An Unfinished Scrapbook
by The Unknowing Herald
Summary: A picture is a powerful thing. A paper ark that encases an individual's, or even, a family's deepest and most treasured memories. What is a scrapbook but a treasure chest safekeeping the very best of our lives? Spare a moment and dive into the treasures inside, for a moment is all a picture is.
1. The Expedition to the Zoo

**Author's Note:** I am seriously running out of ways to stop you from panicking. Yes, this is technically not Normalcy. HOWEVER! I technically didn't write most of this… I wrote the author's note. That's about it. This is a one-shot by TheJadeDragon37. The reason as to why it's published on this account will be dealt with at the end of the fic. For now let's interview the man in question.

 **TUH:** And so, we have the one cutting the proverbial red ribbon, Jade. What made you want to write this oh dragon of slightly green coloration?

 **Jade:** We needed a chapter showcasing these two. People just need to understand how adorable these girls are

 **TUH:** If they start to ship them, I blame you.

 **Jade:** Hey this is a ship free chapter... mostly. They do sorta ship themselves and I have no control over Mika.

 **TUH:** I sense a hidden agenda. We'd better wrap this up before you start straight up telling them to ship the two. So, as a last statement, how did you feel the chapter turned out and do you have anything to tell the readers?

 **Jade:** Blame the dog of the wooden variety. I feel it got across what I wanted, the friendship between the two. As for the readers, be prepared for a sweet story.

 **TUH:** By sweet he means call the dentist and book a full cavity treatment. In any case, enjoy!

* * *

 **An Unfinished Scrapbook**

 **The First Picture**

 **The Expedition to the Zoo**

* * *

 **August 27th, 20 P.R.**

A young girl of 14 was rummaging through her closet. Her bright red hair loosely fell halfway down her back. Sitting atop her head were a pair of pointed wolf ears, they flicked as the girl continued to sort through a mess of clothes. Currently all she wore was a simple light purple one piece dress. A red tail matching her hair in color with a white tip swished back and forth happily as the girl thought about what she'd be doing today. Pulling out a pale blue tunic the young girl looked it over with her heterochromatic eyes, her left blue and her right green. Tossing it onto a pile on her bed she continued to flip through her wardrobe, careful not to have her claws tear any of the fabric.

"Iris, hurry it up!" the girl's mother called out from downstairs. Iris perked her head up at her mother's words. "Your date is going to be here any second."

"Pris isn't my date Mother!" Shaking her head Iris quickly changed her clothes adding a pair of black shorts.

"I'll believe it when you actually get a date," Mika said as she appeared in her daughter's doorway. Iris' mother was a tall woman, easily dwarfing the five foot one wolf girl. She had short yellow-blonde hair and striking golden eyes. "I mean, you never take this long to get dressed unless it's for Pris. Sounds like getting ready for a date, your Mom was the same way when we were dating."

Grabbing a white messenger style bag from her bed Iris had settled on her outfit of the blue tunic coupled with a pair of black shorts. Taking a black scrunchie she tied her hair up into a high ponytail, the tip of it reaching down to her neck. Heading for the door she found that her mother was still standing in the doorway blocking her, a questioning look on the woman's face.

"Ugh, yes Mother, I have everything. Mom packed it all for me so there's no chance of me forgetting anything." Iris was known for her bad memory, she carried around a notebook filled with questions, answers, and general things that she needed to remember. However, even that wasn't a enough to make sure the teenage girl would remember everything so her parents would often double check or even help out as they saw fit.

"Alright Squirt, but do you remember the spell I taught you?" In response Iris touched the top of her head between her ears. Starting from where her hand was her red hair started to turn a vibrant purple in color, she repeated the process for her tail, even removing the white tip to make it fully purple. "Fair enough then, go ahead and change back."

"So Mother…" Iris started as her hair color returned to normal, "is there any way Pris and I can-"

"Don't even ask Iris, you know the rules," Mika warned her daughter knowing full well just what exactly she was about to ask for.

"But it takes so long to get there. We can actually have fun if we can take your bike!" There was one very good reason why Iris wasn't allowed to take Mika's motorcycle out for a ride. Namely that reason was Pris. "I promise that I'll be the one to drive, I won't let Pris anywhere near the driver's seat. I'll be in full control."

"No, last time you said that and I got my bike back it had a few modifications on it that I don't remember asking for."

A loud sigh could be heard from behind Mika. "She's asking to borrow your bike again?" Rin asked her wife. Iris' other mother, Rin, was a shorter woman, though not as short as Iris, with dark blue hair done in the same style as the wolf-girl. Her soft caring blue eyes darted back and forth between her family members. Mika simply nodded the affirmative. "This was exactly why I was against you getting that thing in the first place. We can walk to town easily enough and it's a danger to Iris."

"But it's fun!" Mother and daughter said in perfect unison.

At that moment the doorbell rang and they could all hear the last member of the family, Iris' older sister Fayette, open the door. Iris' enhanced hearing was able to pick up who was at the door. Only one person had that soft spoken of a voice, not to mention she was the only company the family was expecting to have over at the moment.

"You'll just have to walk today Iris," Rin told her youngest child. With a defeated look Iris walked past her parents and headed downstairs.

Fay and Pris were standing in the living room having a small chat. Running over and greeting her best friend by pulling her into a hug, Iris announced her presence. Priscilla was a girl with wavy light brown hair that fell down to her neck. Pale violet eyes opened wide in shock at the sudden attack from her friend. Pris' frail looking body looked like it would be snapped by the strength behind Iris' hug, but despite her weak looks, she's was easily able to endure it. She had a fur covered dragon tail poking out of a white full length dress. Silver accessories covered the girl's neck, ankles and wrists. Pulling back Iris gave a toothy smile, showing off her fangs.

Standing back, Fay let her sister have her moment with her friend. Fayette was the tallest of the three. She had silver-white hair that fell down the entire length of her back, a silver hairclip pulled it together at her neck, causing it to flare out below. Behind white half-rimmed glasses were a pair of dark purple eyes. Fay was wearing a pastel pink blouse with white full length skirt. She was a full chested girl and she tried to hide it by wearing baggy clothes. To draw more attention to the shy girl, a pair of white angel like wings were folded up on her back.

What got Iris the most whenever she saw her sister and best friend together was how they were both shy people and yet they never seemed to have much in the way of conversation. To her mind, these two should have a lot to talk about since they were both so introvert. Instead they both just talked about the little things, weather, what's going on at school, the things that you ask about just to awkwardly pass time.

"Pris you ready to head out?" Iris asked, her toothy smile still plastered on her face.

"How'd you even get tickets to the zoo already, it just opened last week?" Pris asked once Iris had let her go and given her a bit of breathing room.

"Don't tell her Fay!" Iris shouted at her sister who had opened her mouth to explain. "It's supposed to be a surprise and I've worked really hard to keep it that way." With a soft smile, Fay waved goodbye to the two before she left the room. "Don't worry about how I got them though Pris, let's just go have fun."

Taking Pris by the hand Iris pulled her towards the door. On a nearby table sat a set of keys, the only keyring that had more than one key on it was Mika's. Looking over her shoulder Iris checked to see if her parents had come downstairs yet. Listening carefully for any indication that someone was coming, Iris quickly snatched the keys off the table.

Running out the door Iris led Pris to the motorcycle parked just outside under a makeshift carport made of stone that was off place compared to the wooden house. Handing the keys over to Pris, Iris climbed up on the back of the bike and let the frail looking draconic girl take the driver seat with a large smile on her face.

With a roar the bike's engine came to life and Pris peeled out of the makeshift carport as fast as the vehicle would let her. Dust kicked up behind them as they made their way down the driveway. Iris had her arms wrapped around Pris, holding onto the girl as if her life depended on it, which it did at the speeds that Pris was doing. A speed limit meant nothing to this driver, she would take the bike to its max speed and would bob and weave through any traffic that she encountered. It was a dangerous endeavor no matter how you looked at it.

As the two made their way down the highway towards the zoo Iris had her ears laid as flat as she could get them. While she enjoyed the rush of the wind against her face, she didn't enjoy the resulting earache that came from such high speeds and she didn't think to grab a helmet before hopping on. Pris' hair whipped back into Iris' face while she clutched to the brunette.

Passing cars by on the highway like they were standing still, they made it to the zoo in record time, in fact they had a couple of minutes before the doors even opened to let people in since Pris had driven so fast. Since the zoo was only a week old, there was very much a line to get into the place. A crowd of over 200 people had gathered outside the gates waiting to get inside. While Iris had somehow mysteriously gotten tickets beforehand, many of the waiting people were there trying to see if they couldn't still buy tickets to the newest attraction in Mobliz.

* * *

A large brown brick wall surrounded the entire zoo complex, the only entrance to the inside was a single gate with several ticket stands to deal with the throng of customers the establishment had anticipated. The gates were simple metal bars that went in between each ticket booth that could be locked and unlocked by a button within the nearest booth. You could see a little inside the zoo through the gate but all you saw as the large red brick gift shop that had the words "Zoo Gift Shop" in green bubble letters above a pair of glass doors.

Once Pris had seen the crowd though, she started to tremble at the sight of so many people. She didn't exactly do well with large crowds and as her best friend, Iris had been prepared for this. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a pair of sunglasses and handed them over to Pris who took them with a confused look on her face. Due to her famous parents Pris would attract a lot of attention if she was spotted by one of her family's fans, a pair of sunglasses was going to hide nothing. Reaching up and placing her hand on Pris' head, Iris caused the brown hair to turn a snow white color.

"I know how much you dislike crowds Pris, don't think I wouldn't come prepared for this." Taking some pride in her thoughtfulness Iris grabbed Pris' hand and led her to the mass of people. "Excuse me! Pardon me!" Iris shouted as she wormed her way in between people. While she was a small girl, Iris was able to push people aside with relative ease as she able to catch people off guard with her strength. Pulling her friend through the openings she had created was another matter altogether as the people had wised up to what was happening and tried to close ranks to prevent anyone from getting ahead of them.

Once they had gotten stuck with Iris on one side and Pris on the other side of a small cluster of people. They refused to let the now white haired girl pass through. Annoyed at this fact Iris proved to the people around her that the ears and tail weren't a simple decoration and let out an ear piercing howl. Startled long enough by the call, the group broke up long enough for Pris to get pulled through. Navigating the mess of people this way, the two made it to the front of the group where there were a line of security guards standing to make sure that peace was kept once the zoo opened.

"Hi there," Iris said to one of the guards when they spotted the two potential troublemakers that had forced their way to the front of the line. "I have two tickets under the name Iris Fuco, anyway you can check to see if they're there?"

"There are no reserved tickets, whoever told you that lied little girl." The rather large man said as he looked down at the girl in front of him. "You'll have to wait and buy them just like everyone else."

"I have a problem with that though. You see, I talked with Noel and he's the one that told me the tickets would be ready for me on this day. So unless the guy who orchestrated this entire thing was lying to me, I think I'm right."

"And as I told you girly, there are no reserving tickets." The guard repeated, sounding like he got this conversation ten times an hour.

"I'm sorry miss, did you say you were Iris Fuco?" An older man with long grey hair came walking out from the zoo entrance. He wore a pair of jean overalls that were stained brown in a few places, the smell emanating off him gave a clear indication of what caused those stains.

"That I did," Iris happily replied.

"You fool!" The old poo stained man smacked the guard upside his bald head hard enough that it floored him. "We were expecting this young lady today. She's going to-"

"Please don't!" Iris shouted. "I rather not have that explained in front of all these people."

"Of course Miss Fuco, please forgive me if this grunt caused you any problems."

"So long as my friend and I can get in there's no worries." Gesturing over to Pris, Iris made sure that the old man knew just who exactly was to accompany Iris into the zoo.

"Yes, you may both enter now so that you may start viewing the attractions before today's special event." The old man motioned for the two to follow him and the crowd of people started to shout as only two people were being let in when the rest of them had to wait another half hour before the doors opened to the public.

The first place that the two girls headed towards was the aquatics center. A zoo as grand as this one housed more than just land bound animals, it held everything creatures from all corners of the globe, and even some from the other worlds thanks to some patronage by a few wealthy individuals. Making their way to the aquarium section of the zoo, they took notice of just how the place was set up. Lush greenery lined the path to give the place a more natural feel to it. The path was made up of stones to lend even more to the feeling of being out in nature while you walked through the zoo, even the railing was made out of wood.

Signs posted at the splits in the roads alerted the patrons to the locations of the various wildlife. Coming to one such signpost Iris quickly scanned it to see where the aquarium was at. Taking a left at the junction the road started to slope downwards. Soon after the intersection they found themselves underground with pale blue lights offering little in the way of illumination.

Reinforced glass lined the walls of the underground, letting the tourists see into the tanks housing the animals. The first tank Iris and Pris came across was the one holding a group of polar bears. The white furred bears were swimming down deep into the water, while a few of them sat up on the rocks that served as their housing.

"I haven't seen one of these before." Iris said as she pressed her face to the glass to see the bear in front of her. "Thought I would have seen something like this wandering around before."

"It's a polar bear Iris," Pris giggled at her friend's lack of knowledge. "They live in a colder climate than what we have around here, that's why you haven't seen them before. We did learn about them in school."

"We did?" Obviously having forgotten about any such thing Iris looked a little embarrassed. She quickly got over it and was once more completely entranced by the bears.

"Did you remember to bring your notebook with you today?" Knowing just how forgetful her best friend was Pris hoped that Iris did remember to bring her digital notepad.

Reaching into her bag Iris produced the tablet and started to jot down, using a stylus, what she noticed of the animal in front of her. Should anyone go through the notebook they would find it confusing. A lot of what was written inside was written in a short hand that only the writer could understand. It was a combination of both letters and pictures that helped Iris recall the information that she had wanted to remember for a later date.

"Don't worry, Mom packed everything for me today." Sheepishly Iris held open her bag so that Pris could see the contents. Before she had the chance to actually to take a look inside Iris closed the bag. "Whoops, can't have you taking a look inside, just trust me when I say Mom thought of everything, you know how she is."

"Iris, just what are you hiding today? You got us in before anyone else, you used Noel's name to get in, and you won't show me your bag." Feeling quite confused about what was going on Pris wanted to see what just Iris was up to.

"Like I told Fay back at home, it's a secret and I'm trying really hard to keep it that way Pris." Iris looked back at the polar bears so she wouldn't have to see the slightly sadden face of Pris looking back at her. "But I promise that it'll be worth it when you do find out." Pushing off from the glass Iris started to run down the hallway. Halfway down she turned around and waved for Pris to come chase after her.

Together the two looked through the tanks. There was everything from your normal penguins and sharks in the different tanks all the way up to the more mystical creatures such as seahorse like Kagura with their horns still intact. While sharks were indeed hostile creatures, ones such as the Kagura had special powers and so there were magical barriers to help reinforce the glass that stood between it and the average person.

By the time they had reached the end of the aquarium people had started to file in, the gates having finally opened up. The silence the two girls had before to accompany them was now gone as kids and their parents caught sight of the animals in surrounding them.

"Looks like we have some good timing Pris. Let's go and check out the desert area and see some rare animals from a place much warmer than here."

"But isn't the forest habitat closer?"

"That it is, but the day is only going to get hotter and I want to get out of that heat before it even starts. Some of us have fur rather than hair, gets too warm sometimes and I shed more than I like."

* * *

They spent the rest of the morning was spent looking around the various habitat. The desert habitat was in a separate building to simulate the intense heat that the creatures were used to. While inside Iris instantly started to sweat and started fanning herself to try to keep cool, even her tail was swishing back and forth to try and generate a breeze to keep her body temperature down. Pris on the other hand was completely immune to the change in heat, her dragon and esper blood letting her adapt without problems.

Most of what was inside the heated dome were cactuars and lizards such as the drakes. While it wasn't exactly encouraged by the staff, some of the creatures would walk up to the path that ran through and you could interact with the more friendly animals. Everyone had started to panic when a large Ring Wyrm approached the path. It's large grey muscled body told the group just how strong the monster was, the silver ring that floated around the creature's neck gave it the name Ring Wyrm. Tonberries clad in their brown cloaks appeared out from under sand on platforms. With kitchen knives in hand they started to saunter over to the approaching Wyrm. Only the strongest or most foolish of creatures challenged an armed Tonberry, when the Ring Wyrm spotted the three little guys that were no bigger than it's paw, it started to divert its path away from the humans that had gathered.

One of the guides that had come with the tourist group explained that a pact with the tonberries had been made. So long as the zoo staff gave them apples and oddly enough, petted the tonberries, they would help protect the zoo-goers from any approaching monsters. The trio of protective tonberries came to the group with their knives sheathed somewhere in their cloaks. Pris reached down and rubbed the head of the nearest Tonberry, it's glowing yellow eyes closed as it fell into bliss.

Further down the path they ran into a very rare monster, the ever elusive El Gigantuar. A gigantic walking cactus that not only had a sombrero on its head and a classic evil villain mustache, it somehow held a pair of maracas in its hands. Both girls were astounded that such a thing had not only been found, but that it had been captured and brought safely to the zoo.

Shaking its maracas to a tune that it had created, El Gigantuar was dancing to the music. It was quite a hilarious dance that it was putting on and it wasn't long before everyone started laughing at the antics of the dancing cactus. The music stopped and the dancing Gigantuar turned around to see the group of people that had snuck up on it. When it spotted everyone its eyes and mouth grew wide. In a puff of dust, El Gigantuar fled the scene.

"Looks like you guys are the first ones to see one of our rare creatures. We've been open a week and this is the first time that El Gigantuar has graced us with his presence. As you can see he's a little shy when it comes to meeting large groups of people. He's actually quite docile and loves when the zoo staff come out to feed all the animals." The tour guide explained in a loud voice as he looked out in the direction of the still fleeing giant cactus.

"How lucky was that?!" Iris exclaimed, temporarily forgetting all about the heat.

"That was sooo cool," Pris agreed, stars in her eyes as they all witnessed the sombrero wearing monster finally vanish from sight. "Senhor Gigantaur can dance well."

"I got to be careful, he might put me out of a job with moves like that," Iris joked.

With their rare find in the desert habitat they next headed to the snowy region of the zoo. Everything in the zoo's layout was done around a focal point in the center. There were quite a number of habitats but each and everyone one of them was somehow connected to the underground water habitat where the two girls had started their trip. It was designed so that you could travel underneath and see the aquatic life of each area and then head above ground to view the local animals that didn't spend their time underwater. Of course animals like the polar bears had a small tank of water to go alongside the above ground pen.

In the exact center of the zoo was a see through floor showcasing some of the rarer, more tropical fish. Both Iris and Pris had already seen them from their trip underground but it was another experience altogether to be able to look down and see them. They stared at the fish for a little longer until Pris' stomach began to growl.

"Guess we'll hit up a food stand next," pulling out a bag of trail mix Iris handed it over to Pris. "Not much but Mom was thinking it'd help hold you over till we got to some actual food." Pris graciously took the bag of nuts, raisins, and such from Iris before downing the entire contents at once. Even with all that food ingested, Pris' stomach was still rumbling. "Yeah, thought that's about how it'd go."

Finding the nearest map they looked to see what direction they needed to go in order to find food. Luckily most of the shops were located near the center of the establishment. A quick jaunt down a nearby path and they found themselves near a gift shop, one that also happened to be selling cotton candy. Some of the sticks had enough of the fluffy sugar on them that Iris felt queasy just looking at them. On the other hand, Pris ran over with money in hand to purchase two of them for herself, leaving Iris in the dust. The wolf girl sniffed at the air, if they were getting close to food she should be able to smell it on the wind. Closing her eyes she tried to cut off other senses to try and focus on looking for a particular scent.

"Want some Iris?" Pris held out one of the globs of blue cotton candy, a large portion already missing from it. Opening her eyes Iris took a bite out of the crystallized sugar before she returned her attention to seeking out the smell she longed for. "Umm Iris, what are you doing?"

"They have to have it Pris. Mom's not here, this is a rare opportunity to have them." Walking along the path towards what food she could smell Iris continued to sniff at the air.

"Oh, checking to see if anyone is barbecuing any ribs." Pris stated having easily figured that Iris would be searching for her favorite meal. By now Pris had already finished off her cotton candy and was on the hunt for more food herself.

"Yes! Mom only makes them on my birthday and only ever enough for one serving. I could eat a behemoth sized rack of ribs and still want more. Properly barbequed ribs are the most delicious thing on the planet, have to be left on the bone to. I mean, the bone is half the joy of ribs." Iris' tail was swishing back and forth at high speeds as she thought about mowing down on a rack of ribs.

Making their way further down the path they stopped at every store that sold junk food. If it wasn't for her ravenous appetite she would have had her arm full of sweets that ranged from lollipops as big as her head to bags of popcorn, both salted and caramel. All of which she ate in the time it took to move from one shop to the next. By the seventh store Iris had started to get worried about her friend, even with it being Pris and her biology being vastly different than a human's there was no way that many sweet was good for her.

"Are you sure you should be eating so many sweets?" She asked, no longer able to just sit by and watch Pris eat nothing but sweet foods. While she certainly understood the desire to go a bit wild and eat whatever she wanted, Iris was also very conscious about what she ate. Her mom always had made sure she had vegetables and when Fay had figured out that she wanted to be a doctor, well Iris had learned to watch what she ate to the point that it was part of her very being now, though she would still gorge herself on ribs given any chance. Not only was Pris eating so much, she had absolutely no manners in doing so. Everything went down the hatch quickly and at one point Iris had worried Pris was going to choke on her food she ate like a woman possessed. "Besides, your appetite is one of the things that gives you away, not many people eat like you do."

"No one knows who I am Iris, so shouldn't I make the best of it?" Pris asked between mouthfuls of carmel corn.

"Look girls, someone let a lizard out of her cage." A girl in her late teens came walking out of a nearby store. She pointed out Pris to her three friends. "Thought the zoo was supposed to keep animals caged up, not let them roam around with us humans."

"Hey!" Iris shouted at the girl. "What makes you think you can talk to her like that? She might look a little different but she's just as human as you are."

"Look Silph, she has a guard dog," one of the other girls laughed.

"I'm not a dog, I'm a wolf!" The distinction was small but mattered very much to Iris. She viewed dogs as more lazy than their cousin the wolf, and Iris was very much the hunter and quite active. Not to mention she was did actually have a wolf form.

"Please, you're all mutts the lot of you." The first girl said. "You think just cause you walk around on two legs and can speak makes you human? I've had hamsters that could do a few good tricks, but they were animals all the same."

"Oh god, Brittany, that white haired girl, she has horns."

All of Iris' instincts kicked in as she felt the air around her crackle with power. Every strand of fur on her tail was raised as she looked over at Pris. Normally pure violet in color, the edges of Pris' irises had started to turn a darker purple as she tapped into her magic. Quickly Iris bolted over pulled Pris away from the four girls. Already Iris could feel the flow of time stretch around her as she pulled her friend away from the bullies.

"I hope that the real wolves aren't as nice as Iris!" Pris yelled as she was dragged away.

"They aren't worth it Pris!" She tried calling out to snap the hybrid girl out of it. "You can't control your powers that well, think what'd happen to the animals if you let loose." At the mention of the animals Iris could feel the flow of time return to normal. A sigh escaped her as she slowed her down to a slight walk. By the time Iris stopped, Pris had returned to her senses.

"Sorry Iris," Pris whispered, her head hung in shame at the fact she almost used her full power against four unsuspecting people. With her hand still on Pris' arm, it was easy for Iris to pull her friend into a caring hug. "They noticed me 'cause I was eating like an animal. Mama and Papa raised me better than that. I just wanted to make the most of the time here without them."

"It's okay Pris. If it makes you feel any better I still want to chase after them and educate them on the differences between a wolf and a dog the hard way." Trying to make light of the situation as best she could Iris wanted to back to the fun they were having before hand. "And even if they didn't see you eating, I was walking around with my nose in the air trying to hunt down a ribs. If that's not animalistic i don't know what is. Speaking of," Iris lifted her nose up and sniffed the air once more, "do you smell what I smell?"

"Even after all that, you're still thinking about food?" A soft laugh escaped Pris as she could feel Iris smelling the air, the wolf girl making it far more of a production than was required.

"Well yeah, I still haven't had any. I don't care what happens today, I'm not leaving until I get some ribs."

"Let's go and find you some then." Letting Iris lead her towards the source of the smell Pris smiled at how easily Iris was able to make her forget about things like those bullies.

* * *

Snow fell from down on Iris' head, her ears twitched whenever a snowflake made its way into her ear. Unlike the heat, Iris loved the cold weather, it was the time that she really enjoyed having fur rather than hair. While her family would bundle up in winter clothing, she would run outside in her normal clothes, quite content with the temperature.

In the snow habitat the path was determined by the fact a clearly shoveled path. It felt like you were walking through a white forest most of the time and the pens that held the animals back would randomly be around the next corner or well hidden by a group of trees so you didn't know that you were near the animals until you were right on top of them. This was if were a normal person though and neither girl was what was considered normal, they could easily pick up on the sounds and smells of the animals before they approached the cages. While they walked through the snowy area the sound of teeth grinding on bone could be heard as Iris munched on the remains of her dinner.

A Behemoth was the main attraction in the habitat, Tonberries dressed in thick fur coats wondered around the outside of its cage to make sure that it didn't cause any problems. Silver rings were placed on the monster's horns, restrictors to the magic it was able to cast. This particular cage was dug down a bit so that people were more at chest level with the beast while a high voltage fence blocked it from getting out, alongside the Tonberries. Both girls enjoyed seeing that even the more aggressive monsters were given plenty of space to live in, the entire cage taking up a good thirty acres of land just for the lone creature.

But what caught their attention the most in the snow habitat were the white wolves. A pack of six had been caught and given a cage half the size of the behemoth cage. Iris' ears fell flat as she looked at the trapped animals. Her human side understood that there were bound to be wolves in a zoo and she even understood why they were on display and that they were given a comfortable home. Still, the wolf in her felt sad for her kin. No amount of food and easy living could make up for running after your prey and working hard for a satisfying meal. There was no need for them to run after anything, while stuck in this cage, they were nothing more than dogs.

"Wish I could talk with'em," Iris mumbled as she looked at the pack. "But transforming here would cause problems that I don't want to have to deal with." In her human form Iris couldn't converse with the wolves, but when she turned into one herself, she was able to speak with the entire canine family. "Just want to see how much they miss the wild."

"Ah Mistress Fuco, there you are." The old man that had let them in the gates in the first place appeared just as suddenly as he had back then. "I do believe that it's time for you to make your way to the forest habitat if you are to be on time for today's main event." Taking a glance at her tablet Iris checked the time and noticed that there was only a half hour before the event she knew was to take place.

"Ack! And you waited this long to find me?" Hurriedly Iris started to make her way back down the path to head towards the forest area, completely leaving Pris alone with the man, and totally in the dark about what was going on.

"It is a rather large place, it took some time to find you and due to the nature of the event we couldn't exactly call you over the intercom." Looking over at Pris the old man offered her his arm. "If you would come with me Ms. Verus I'd be happy to escort you to the event while your friend gets herself ready." Pris' eyes went wide as everything clicked into place, she now knew just what Iris had been keeping a secret from her.

"Thank you but I think I should catch up with her and see if she needs any help." With a polite wave goodbye Pris took off at high speeds after her friend.

Looking over her shoulder Iris spotted Pris catching up on her. Slowing down she waited for the white haired dragon girl to catch up. When Pris did manage to reach her, Iris had a large grin on her face.

"Finally figured it out?" Iris teased.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me you were singing today." Faking hurt Pris tried her best to look sad, but the joy of being able to go see Iris perform live was just too much. "Certainly explains why you were being so secretive today."

"I know that you haven't been able to come to any of my previous concerts, crowds alone would have been a lot for you. But I figured a surprise concert that only the zoo-goers would be able to see would have few enough people that you'd be fine."

* * *

In the forest habitat there was a open field with a stage propped up against the wall of the zoo. It was her that various events were held. While it had only been open for a week so far, a bird show was set for every Tuesday. Today though, the people who had been lucky enough to get into the zoo before the tickets sold out were going to be treated to something else entirely. Backstage one of the rising pop stars of the new age was getting ready to put on a surprise concert, paid for completely by the zoo's owner, Noel.

Iris stood in her dressing room pulling out the clothes that she had packed for when she went on stage. Her normal outfit wasn't something that her alter ego Arcia would wear. Changing from her blue tunic into a thigh length dark green sleeveless dress with a purple line going down the middle and around the hem of it. Letting Pris button up the back of her dress Iris went about lacing up her knee high black boots. Once her boots were on Iris took out the black scrunchie that held her hair in her signature ponytail.

"Do you mind brushing out the tangles Pris?" Iris pleaded as she produced a brush. "There's not much time before I'm supposed to go on stage and I still need to get my contact in." Taking the brush Pris set about making sure that Iris was ready to go out. Reaching one last time into her bag Iris pulled out a contact case. Inside was a colored lens so that when she put it over her green eye it would turn blue, matching her other eye in color.

Blinking a few times to make sure that the contact was in, Iris jumped up, the brush Pris had been using now stuck in her hair. Grabbing it, Iris did a quick few strokes herself, dying her hair purple with the spell Mika had taught her at the same time. Laughing sheepishly at herself Iris tossed the brush onto the table in front of the mirror she'd been using.

"You should probably get outside before it gets too crowded Pris," Rin's voice came from the doorway. "I can help Arcia get ready for her appearance. Seems like she forgot that she was supposed to be here an hour ago."

"Thank you Miss Rin," Pris said before bolting out the door to go and find a place to watch Iris perform.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen!" A peppy announcer called out over the PA system. "For those of you who haven't heard we have a very special surprise for you waiting at the main stage in the forest habitat. To celebrate the opening of the Saint Yeul's Animal Reserve we've gotten the rising pop star Arcia to come and perform! She'll be out and ready to perform in just ten minutes so you better hurry on over if you want a good spot."

"Looks like it's about time for you to head on out." Folding up Iris' discarded clothes Rin smiled at her daughter. "Even now it's still hard to think that my little girl is a big star."

"Oh Mom, I'm not that big of a star just yet. I still only do opening acts in the large concert halls."

"Even still Squirt, you've produced a CD and sold out some of the smaller venues." Beaming with pride Mika added her two cents to the matter.

"Where's Fay at?" Wondering where her older sister was Iris looked to see if she was around. "And Titania."

"Left her at the stage with Pris, both looked pretty happy to be right up against the barrier. As for your little chocobo she's back home sleeping. Can't exactly bring her to a zoo." Mika informed her. "And don't forget to dye your tail Iris. Last I checked Arcia's hair and tail were purple." Turning to look at her tail Iris found that it was indeed still its normal red hue. Stroking her tail Iris caused it to turn purple, even removing the white tip.

"Well, time for me to get out there then." Doing one last double check to make sure that her transformation from Iris into Arcia was complete, the pop star headed out of her dressing room and out towards the stage.

Reaching the edge of the stage Iris took a deep breath. Performing in front of a large crowd was nerve wracking. In order to calm her nerves she would take a few minutes before going out to look at the crowd and try to read their mood. Seeing that Pris and Fay both were pressed up against the guardrail that separated due to the massive crowd behind them trying to get closer Iris felt calmer. Her best friend and sister who both disliked large groups of people were brave enough to face their discomfort to come and see her sing, doing something she had done a hundred times before was nothing compared to that.

Her stage this time was a bit smaller, but she had been on it before the zoo opened back when she'd first been asked to come sing. While she waited for the announcer to get her little speech over with Iris went over the routine that she'd been working on to deal with the size of the stage. She'd have the entire space to herself as the band was situated on platforms around the main stage. There was a small space in front of the stage where security guards stood, a small gap between the barrier and the stage. Taking a headset from one of the staff members Iris added the last piece of her equipment to her outfit before she ran out on stage at her cue from the announcer.

"Heya everyone!" Arcia called out waving to the crowd, a spotlight following her to the center of the stage. "Are you excited to be here today?" Applause and loud unintelligible cheers were her answer. "That's what I thought."

Now actually seeing the star on stage, the crowd was getting more excited and pushing to get closer. Arcia noticed that both Pris and Fay were having a hard time staying in the front, people were trying to worm their way in between the girls and the barrier they clung to so that they could be the ones at the front. Hopping down off the stage Arcia whispered into the ear of the nearest security guard before she started walking down the open area between stage and crowd. As she made her way down the line of people, she would point to a random person and the guard would then assist them in climbing over the barrier, she of course made sure to get both Pris and Fay in her selection.

"There you two go, hope that makes things better," she whispered to the both of them before climbing back up. "Now that we have that out of the way, who's ready for a little music?!"

Once she was standing center stage the band started to play and Arcia went into her first song. The upbeat music was a perfect match to the hyperactive pop star. Her first song was to get the crowd whipped up into a frenzy, trying to match the liveliness of the crowd from the get go. Arcia pranced around showing that off the work she put into memorizing her dance moves and all the while making it look like it was second nature. For her second song, she had something with a stronger beat to it so that everyone could pick up on it and move accordingly. As she started the third song, something a bit slower to give everyone a small respite, an alarm went off throughout the zoo, cutting off the music completely.

"Zoo patrons please find the nearest staff member or Tonberry and stick with them. A few of the seals on the cages have lost power and their inhabitants have broken free. All of our staff are trained to handle these situations and the Tonberries will protect you."

On cue a group a group of Coeurl came out of the surrounding forest, their long whiskers already charged with magic. Accompanying them was a swarm of oversized Wasps, their stingers at the ready to deal with anything that got in the way of their freedom. Mixed in with the standard monster type creatures were a few normal bears.

"Oh boy," Arcia gulped when she noticed all the incoming animals. "Sorry to have to do this to everyone but we need to get this taken care of." With a deep breath Arcia started to call on her magic power. Continuing the song she had been singing before, one that had a slow tune to it Arcia poured her magic power into her words. As a songstress Arcia had the power to use her songs to apply various effects based on the feeling of the song, her current song was making everyone in the vicinity start to fall asleep. Not only were her fans starting to get drowsy, but the the approaching monsters too. Having to sing the song at such a high strength in order to effect all the animals, Arcia wasn't able to pick and choose what was effected.

The Wasps and bears were the first of the approaching creatures to fall into a deep slumber at the sound of the songstress' music. However, the Coeurls with their naturally higher magic resistance were barely even sleepy. Arcia wasn't alone however. Both Fay and Pris were gifted mages and while the song may have put everyone else to sleep, they weren't even groggy due to their own natural magic kicking in to prevent the mystically induced nap.

"Well girls, looks like Iris is keeping most of them busy for us," Mika called out as she came from backstage. "Rin's out like a light thanks to this song so it's just the three of us to deal with those cats while Iris keeps the rest of them asleep."

"Wisp, you ready for this?" Fay asked the small esper of light that she housed in her body.

"How can I help?" Pris asked, with so many people she around her she couldn't unleash her magic and without a weapon she'd be pretty useless against the claws and magic of the Coeurls.

"Use the guardrails," Mika suggested as she herself magically cut out a makeshift staff from the metal barrier. Pris on the other hand was able to rip a section off that would suffice as a weapon. "Just knock them out, once they're down we can let the zoo staff deal with them, even after Iris stops singing the song's effect will hold the others long enough to get them back to their cages."

Together the three women went about knocking the magical cats out. Fay took to the skies with her white wings and would send out bolts of pure light magic at the Coeurls. While they had a high magic resistance, they weren't immune to it. The rays of light were distraction enough that Pris and Mika were able to run up and give them a good thawk to the head to render the felines unconscious. In no time at all they had managed to incapacitate the entire group of Coeurls and round up the sleeping animals to make the zookeepers' jobs easier when they woke up.

"First time you come to my concert and it's a bust," Iris said as she ran over to the group. "I'll have to make it up to you at some point."

"It's alright Iris, I was glad that I got to hear at least two songs live. Besides, today was fun and I'm sure that we'll both remember it."

"To insure that the queen of forgetting remembers it, how about a photo with your favorite singer Pris?" Mika asked as she produced a camera from her back pocket. Iris, still fully in her Arcia look moved over to stand next to Pris, wrapping her arm around the still white haired girl. Pointing it out to them, Mika quickly returned Pris' hair to her original color so that when she showed the photo to other people it'd actually look like she was in it and not some other girl.

"Once we get it printed I'll sign it for ya to if you want," Iris offered. Captured in the photo was Pris and Arcia standing in front of group of sleeping people, bears, and giant wasps.

* * *

 **Post-Author's Note:** So yeah. That happened. Once you're done vomiting rainbows I'll explain just why this exists. While Jade WAS already producing this one shot, the reason why it is posted in this account is not what you may think. You see, after An Unending Struggle ends, it will be followed up by An Unending Stream. However, this story is a fullblown second gen story, not the half-half The After Years was. In short, I either cluttered the first part of the story horribly to show all the characters, rushed and made it so you didn't get any of the characters, or I made it so slow most of you would fall asleep.

Because of that problem, I created An Unfinished Scrapbook. A fic that takes place between AUS1 and 2, and is a series of one shots, ones more slice of lify, ones more adventury, that serve to ease you into the characters. Expect to have some more one-shots of different authorisms pop up before AUS2 is released, maybe even after.

As for authors, I'll do some obviously, however, jade already has some on the line, and, if any of you has the time/want to write I'll gladly post it here and give you all the credit in the world. It doesn't have to be about the second gens either, it can be something as random as Gilgamesh's road to his cooking emporium from AUS1 to 2. Anything that fits the AUS timeline can be posted here!

Sheesh, that one was big. Anyway, expect the next one shot on Jade's birthday. When that is, you'll have to find out yourselves! Back to Normalcy I go!


	2. Call of the Dreadwyrm

****Author's note:** ** As promised, here is the one shot that I made for Jade's birthday. This one focused on characters of his choice, albeit they are still very relevant to AUS2 in general. If you like the Esper lore, you will especially enjoy this chapter! Without further ado, here it is!

* * *

 **An Unfinished Scrapbook**

 **The Second Picture**

 **Call of the Dreadwyrm**

* * *

September 11th, 19 AR

As he sat on a bench on the garden of the Branford household, Ciro recalled the slightly overwhelming events that had lead him here.

* * *

He had, for once, overslept, after spending some blank hours trying to think of ways to cover up his best friend Tina's most current mess. In truth, he didn't really blame her for stalking a guy after having discovered he had done the very same to her. The claw marks at the end were a bit much however, and stalking was still, for all intents and purposes, illegal, so some cover up was in order if she was to keep her family reputation.

While Ciro cared for her, he couldn't help but wish she had at least SOME reigns on her emotions.

By this point, the young man was as aware of his own self as a shambling corpse, the claws of the realm of sleep trying to pry him back into bed. That was until, very abruptly, he was blasted into the waking world by a maelstrom… one tends to exaggerate in their sleep.

Now fully awoken, Ciro shook his head and rummaged through his hair to dry some of it, all the while trying to focus his gaze past the blinding light of the sun, peering through his window.

"You have slept well enough for someone your age. Next time, take your health into account and not that cub's messes," he sighed inwardly at the slightly high pitched voice coming from his right side.

"I should lock you two into a room until you solve that grudge match," Ciro stated, not even acknowledging his summoned Esper with a look. He knew for a fact she was holding the bucket still dripping with the water used to splash him. Min was a fairy Esper, no taller than Ciro's knee. She possessed four wings and dressed in a short, very fairy like black dress that ended in a tiny star-shaped skirt. Her wings were a shade of orange on the outside, while on the inside they were light blue, much like her hair, that was tied in two buns. Her eyes glowed in a shade of red that was more welcoming than one would assume given the color.

"I'm so sorry Master, you just weren't waking up!" Ciro's other Esper, a fairy by the name of Nim, exclaimed desperately, visibly shaken by what had happened to her summoner. Nim was a fairy Esper, much like her sister, which shared most of the same body. Her colors differed, with white being the dominating color in her body and dress, red markings coloring her wings, and green hair cascading in bangs and flowing through her back. She shared the same, red eyes as her sister. Ciro didn't think much of it. He had been stuck with this pair ever since he summoned them five years ago and one of them. Nim always tried to clean up after Min's… problematic pathing, sometimes successful, sometimes just a bit too late. Funnily enough, the two of them reminded him of him of someone else in a way.

What really surprised him was that it was Nim that was holding the bucket, not her sister. Being around Tina too much may have been a bad influence on her after all.

"Don't sweat it Nim. I'm more interested in knowing the why of this than how it happened," Ciro pointed out, having finished putting on his casual clothing. He was not one to care much about his clothing, a simple pair of clear blue pants and jacket, along with a white T-shirt, made his apparel.

In light of his inquiry,Nim didn't waste any time, pulling on Ciro's wrist with all the strength an Esper her size could muster. This was surprisingly a lot. Enough to drag Ciro against his will out of his room and halfway through the corridor as she delivered the vague explanation of:

"You got some visitors!" ignoring any and all further explanations, she lobbed him into the living room, where he stumbled through the first half of it, finding himself nearly losing balance and falling to the sofa.

He would've never lived that down. You see, on the couch on the left were his parents, his dad Sol barely even shaken by the peculiar entrance of his son while his mother, Luna, was giving Min the true meaning of a death glare. However, on the couch to the right, the one he had just barely avoided crashing into were…

"Greetings Ciro Adamas, I do believe we have already met," the seemingly middle aged woman of long, violet hair dressed in beige regal gowns greeted. It didn't take more than a second for Ciro to realize that he was being addressed by Asura, Queen of the Feymarch and all Esperkind, a small smile on her face belying her bemusement with the situation. Her husband, Leviathan, was much less subtle about it, the seeming elder in blue robes chuckling to his heart's content in the back. By now, Ciro was freaking out. Looking at everyone around him for aid, he soon found out that he was, indeed, shit out of luck. The apathetic look of his father, the annoyed look of his mother, the enjoying-this-more-than-I-should-look of his own summon Min, and Nim was just panicking as hard, if not harder than him. Swallowing the pill, he took a deep breath and tried to keep the conversation rolling.

"Y-yes Miss… I mean Madam… I mean your Majesty!" Ciro stumbled, feeling ashamed of how his usual skillful weaving of words had left him at a whim. Of all the times to go socially inept, this had to be the one. In his defense, if only the one the only being he trusted to be on his side at any occasion hadn't set him up, he'd have been fine. He only needed to know who he was about to meet. "What brings you here? Are you looking for my cousin?" he questioned, remembering the time that the same pair had come to meet with his cousin Fay due to her summoning skills.

"Oh, we did check up on her dear boy, but you are mistaken. We are here for you!" Leviathan pointed out heartily, chuckling at Ciro's expression as it all settled in.

"Y-you want me to visit the Feymarch?!" he blurted out, forgetting all of his worries and just giving in to the shock and excitement. He would've never, in his wildest dreams, thought that someone like him, who was capable of a grand total of two possible summons, would be invited to do so. "But why? I mean, I can barely summon a chocobo! My best exploits is summoning two minor espers…"

"Must I remind you of the times this "minor" esper has come to your aid?" Min grunted from behind, pulling on his hair. Ciro loved Min, but he knew of the hierarchy of Esperkind, at least the baseline, and two young fairies were all but respected in it.

"You are cordially invited to visit the Feymarch yes," Asura confirmed, smiling in reassurance. None in the room knew of how much the queen had changed ever since she had met Rydia, but now the Esper felt herself quite liking the interaction with the other species. "As for why… I cannot say. I am not against calling you to the Feymarch, but your benefactor was someone else,"

"There is someone else with that kind of power that wants Master? Who is it?" Nim questioned, apparently not filled in on the whole story herself. From how Min had stopped ravaging Ciro's hairline, he deduced she knew neither.

"You'll know soon enough!" Leviathan exclaimed, laughing heartily, a phantom serpent tail appearing out of nowhere from beneath his robes and patting Ciro in the back.

With that said, a few moments passed as the room calmed down, leaving Asura to be assured her message had been delivered. The King and Queen of the Feymarch then stood, mana starting to flow out of their physical forms.

"We are grateful for having us, but due to the still differing timeline on the Feymarch, we'd best not tarry. Every minute here is the better half of a day on our Kingdom," Asura explained, Ciro and the others nodding in understanding.

"We will be awaiting your visit!" Leviathan exclaimed, vanishing into another time and place with his mate.

"Well… that just happened," Sol said after a full minute of silence. He looked at his wife, who, by this point, had calmed down. Shrugging, Ciro's mom stood up and went to get her phone.

"We need to find you a guide. Know anyone?" Luna questioned, to which Ciro easily responded with:

"I know a few…"

* * *

And here he was. Barking at the last of those few trees. He wasn't against asking the Branfords for help. His family and this particular family of heroes had been nearly inseparable ever since they had moved back into Mobliz. He had just felt that people as hardworking as them should not be bothered with his own predicament.

As he sat there, wondering how the conversation between his father and Terra was going, his inner reflection was interrupted when he felt his cranium be enveloped by a giant beak. He chuckled and went to pet the attacker.

Starlight, whose name was a true testament to Terra's amazing naming skills, was the eldest son of Stardust, a distinction that seemed to have made him and Tina connect through their experience as the "eldest ones". Stardust didn't fit into any previously established breeds of chocobos however. For one, he was large. Far larger than his mother and father, to the point that he dwarfed any chocobo in the barn and even managed to look at Caelum eye to eye. He wasn't quite twice as large as his mother, but he was at least halfway into it. Secondly, his plumage was, surprisingly, of mixed coloration. Most of its body was covered in a darker and dirtier yellow than Choby, but what really made him stand apart were how halfway into his wings and tail feathers they became of a glimmering white coloration, reflecting light in such a way that while below the a dimmer light source, like say the moon, Starlight looked to be part for its name.

Tina was amazingly proud of this chocobo, and cared for it as her number one possession. Well, possession is a harsh name, she saw him nearly like a brother… far more than Kefka at least. The feeling was twofold, and Starlight was just a really happy bird every time Tina was near him.

Conversely, Stardust had also taken a liking of the young man, mostly because of his fairies. Even now, with Nim trying to pry its beak off of Ciro's head while Min took it upon herself to shine a bright light into the bird's large, chocolate eyes. He found them entertaining, you could see it in his eyes.

"Light! Light?! Where are ya boy?!" a voice exclaimed in the distance. Ciro's ears perked up, along with the bird.

"Joyous… it's the cub," Min said dismissively at the sight of Tina. The girl was wearing far more casual clothing than the usual school uniform Ciro found her in. Instead she was wearing a red trench coat that only served to accentuate her features, her sleeves rolled up possibly due to her having been working at the barn. Beneath the trench coat were a pair white pants and a matching white shirt with golden borders, one that didn't even try to hide Tina's most eye-catching trait. "Must she consistently… put herself on display so?," Min added, Nim riposting as:

"We don't exactly wear any clothes, we shouldn't judge," Nim immediately covered her hands when she said that. It was sort of taboo for the Espers to acknowledge that. It made for some of the less "clothed" Espers to be more awkward.

"There you are!" Tina exclaimed as Starlight ran into her, happy kwehs sailing through the air. "Huh…Ciro? What brings you here so early in the afternoon?" she questioned, her eyes briefly colliding with Min. They both scoffed and looked on in different directions.

"Well, it's a long story…" the gaze Ciro got was more than enough info that he had to spit it out.

"So you need a guide to the Feymarch?" Tina asked, crossing her arms, apparently in deep thought.

"Yeah, your parent's are my last choice. You see, Cuore is making a speech in Migdar and-" Ciro found himself brutally interrupted as he was lobbed through the air by the massively power-full hybrid, landing on the front of Starlight's saddle almost perfectly, much to his confusion.

"Hey! What are you doing to our Master cub?" Min questioned harshly, being all but ignored by the girl, which had proceeded to jump onto the saddle behind Ciro, silencing him immediately as she leaned on him, pressing her body into his back, to reach the reigns. Ciro knew she was fully aware of what she was pressing on his back. That's just how Tina is.

"I'm hijacking my mother's operation! Be a doll and tell Kefka to clean the barn for me, 'aight?!" and with that and a taunting smile, Tina quite literally kidnapped the twin esper's summoner, soaring through the air with Stardust at speeds that would make even Sylphs weary.

"Did she just leave us behind?!" Min grunted, gritting her teeth. If looks could murder, Tina would have fallen right out of the sky. She didn't show it, but she was seething from the inside out at the act of defiance.

"Min, please calm down. What's important is that Master got a guide. He'll resummon us when he's at the cave to the Feymarch, I'm sure of it!" Nim exclaimed, flying around her sister in an attempt to calm her down. After a few moments, Min regained her composure, mentally admonishing herself for losing it and promising herself it would not happen in the foreseeable future.

"I suppose you are right… we best inform Master's parent's quickly and return to the Feymarch, even for Master's immense reserves, keeping us in this plane at large distances is certainly too much," Min stated, Nim nodding as the two fairyhurried to the house.

* * *

Soaring through the skies of Fantasia, it did not take long until Tina found herself bored from the flight. The cave to the Feymach was still situated in the Dwarf ruled Underworld, meaning they had to get to Argart to even access the lower half of the crust, and even then they'd have to fly towards the cave. Even at Starlight's breakneck speeds, ones that had even surpassed his mother, this would take a couple of hours.

With that, she decided to act upon the advantages of not having that nagging fairy by Ciro's side. She could actually talk to him without any worry of snide remarks.

"So, Ciro, why were you invited to the Feymarch? I mean, I've heard Fay was as well, and I know for a fact that Cuore's brother Kaze had the same deal, but I never understood why it happens," she asked, having to raise her voice quite loudly for Ciro to hear. After a few failed attempts, Ciro made himself useful, using his knowledge of barrier magic to create a barrier around them, filtering the wind and making Star even faster due to the diminishing of resistance. "Thanks Ciro, you got my question?"

"Yeah, after the fourth time… anyway, there's not much to it really. As far as I know skilled and/or potential filled Summoners are semi-often called for a one-day visit to the Feymarch. The goal for this, beside fostering interactivity between the two species, is often to have Summoners be able to meet all the creatures he had summoned over the years, maybe forge new bonds, maybe strengthen old ones. Learning Esper culture seems to also be something of note according to Fay. It acts as sort of a prize that tells you the Espers have placed great faith on you as a Summoner… precisely why I have no idea why I was called there," Ciro explained, a bit self-deprecating, but, just as truthful. He really had no idea why they would call him of all people.

"Don't be like that Ciro! You're the only summoner I know that keeps two summons out at all times! Even Rydia doesn't do that! Granted one of them is a major pain in my ass, but that's beside the point," Tina stated, rubbing Ciro's head playfully, only making him shrivel even more at her lack of shame.

"All I got to my name are huge mana reserves. I can summon two Espers and keep them summoned, but two Espers isn't exactly a large roster," Ciro explained, again, not wallowing in self-depreciation, just a confused from a logical standpoint. "I just find the timing odd. I think this may be too early,"

"Well, whoever called you will probably just straight up tell you why you were summoned. For now, just enjoy the trip…and me," Tina purred, causing the atmosphere to crash down on Ciro once again. In mere moments, she was laughing out so much she nearly slipped of Starlight. "Oh, you're just so easy to play with!"

* * *

"You would think that of all the things that changed with the world, the Feymarch being in a cave in the middle of a sea of lava would be one of them," Tina sneered, wiping the sweat from her brow. The last ten minutes had been spent flying over the molten rock substance, something that wasn't pleasant, even for someone with her anatomy.

"Just take a break Tina. I have to summon Min and Nim back," Ciro said, the girl turning her eyes in response to it. She knew what she had coming.

As soon as the incantation finished, two bright budding lights appeared from the gylphs surrounding Ciro. One of them was especially frantic in flying around the young man, assessing its state of being. "You seem to be unharmed Master. I am glad, if there was even a scratch on, you, I'd have to severely punish the cub's rash behavior," she stated, passing a dissenting glare at Tina, like one would give a dog that had just eaten half of your sock. Her plan to pay Tina back with wordsmithing, was however, ill-conceived and ill-fated however, as the inevitable happened. The fairy soon fell into Tina's unrelenting grip.

"Who says I would even take punishment from an over-glorified butterfly like you?" Tina groaned, squeezing Min just enough to cause her the same amount of annoyance she had been dealt.

"If you weren't an uncivilized brute, you would learn to respect the wills of some that are old enough to be your ancestors!" Min replied, reacting to none of the actions Tina performed, from shaking her to squeezing her to even ruffling her hair. She was not going to give her any pleasure.

"Oh, right, so that's why you tattle on like a granny! You are that old!" Tina knew which buttons to press, and if the murderous look on the tiny Esper's face was any indicative of the matters, she had hit bullseye.

"You two coming or not?!" the two females suddenly found themselves turning their heads to see Ciro and the other fairy looking on from inside the cave, Ciro's look of exasperation signifying that he wasn't about to put up with their shit, even if Nim begged him to.

The two's glares clashed once more for a second before Tina resigned herself to releasing Min, who made sure to drop a sassy grin before flying back towards her master's side.

* * *

This cave was the reason Ciro needed a guide. He didn't worry about getting lost in it, he was pretty sure his fairies could lead the way. However, the cave to the Feymarch was so chockfull of mana that it attracted, and mutated, far more monsters than Ciro could bear to account for. For that reason, and the natural obstacles of a cave full of lava he wanted a guide.

To combat the monsters, Ciro had brought his own personal safety measures. His father was a Lunarian scientist, and as such, had his fair share of gadgets and own inventions. A favorite of Ciro's was his ADS 3.0 model. A direct upgrade from the usual Lunarian orb tech, there wasn't much different the orb from the usual ones. The base design was the same, however, Sol had effectively cut down its size to a tenth of its usual self, them being no bigger than tennis balls as it stood. Some minor aesthetical changes were done too, what with the strange red patterns being replaced by neon blue lines, which transported pure mana. Mana the orbs used to fire simple, but destructive magic, like the Ruin line. That being said, only one of the orbs had to be used, and as nothing more than a flashlight, lightning the way in the darkest depths of the cave, Tina turned out to be more than adequate, despite her less-than-usual "hire".

"How come we're not being attacked by any monster?" Nim questioned, as she had heard of many Summoners which reached the Feymarch mauled by the wildlife. The cavern itself was known to be a test to the Summoner's care and preparedness.

"They know better," Tina said with a large amount of pride. She was not lying or being cocky. Ciro had seen them, the eyes in the dark that gazed upon the intruders, but immediately vanished if they locked eyes with the part-Esper girl. "I've been visiting the Feymarch since I was a little girl, these monsters have had more than their fair share of troubles with my family. Lately, they just sorta gave up," she explained, easing Ciro's worry.

"Thank goodness, here I was praying that you actually knew the way," he joked, Tina chuckling alongside him.

"Oh, come on, give me some credit, I got you to the cavern fine," she said, sneaking a look at Min. "Overgrown butterfly and her sweet sister notwithstanding,"

"That's the point Tina, Master always gets in trouble around you…" Nim echoed Ciro's thoughts, immediately covering her mouth after realizing what she just said. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"Nah, it's fine, just take it as some forceful injection of excitement in your Master's life," she said, stretching herself just in front of them. Ciro at first thought this was another one of Tina's teasing moments, but he soon realized why she had stopped. A giant river of lava covered the rest of the cavern. "Now, Ciro, hop on!" Tina exclaimed, putting herself in position for a piggyback ride. They had left Starlight to wait on the opening to the cave, it was safer that way and considering how time passed in the Feymarch, the bird wasn't gonna wait for more than an hour, two tops.

"I don't need to be babied Tina. Float!" Ciro exclaimed, his feet leaving the ground as a heavenly light lifted him into the air.

"See, cub? Our master has not spent his time idly, he has no further need of your services," Min proclaimed, crossing her arms and closing her eyes haughtily, sure that Tina would be kicking herself right now. Tina instead laughed as she pointed at Ciro's feet.

"You lifted yourself ten centimeters from the ground?! What, do you want to lose a leg every time the lava stirs?" she asked, Ciro gulping inwardly at the question. He could indeed go higher, but it was hard to control. Float was not the spell he had the most use of. "Look, just stop being stubborn and get on my back. I'll teach you to fly when you have the free time to," she said with a wink. Ciro, defeated, had to accept. Grabbing onto Tina's back, Min made no comment during the entire trip. She was too busy gnawing at her own teeth. During the flight, Tina soon asked for something of the fairies however.

"Hey, you two. Remember there being this large a lava river?" she asked, Nim being the one able to talk back to Tina without trying to rip her hair off.

"We don't usually visit but… no. This one doesn't seem natural either," Nim said, Ciro's eyebrow being raised in response.

"Natural?" he asked, Min taking the reins of the conversation.

"Yes Master, if you would avert your eyes away from the transportation you have found yourself on and payed attention to the walls, you would see that lava is flowing out of them through some unnatural gashes," Min spat, being merciless to anyone but her sister. Ciro was honestly used to it however, and only took the important part from the conversation to heart. He looked around and saw them; strange, large cut-like flaws on the rock bed, from which flowed the lava that seemed to occupy the entire lower half of the cavern now.

"I'll bring up the issue to Baha when we arrive," Tina said, Ciro still being weirded out at how casually the Branfords were able to talk about the God of Espers. "Oh, by the way, we're probably arriving at the Bridge of Proving. Don't worry though, the Behemoth there knows that I need no proving,"

"For as much as you open your maw you must love the sounds of your own speech," Min didn't ask, she stated it. There weren't any buts about it.

"Why wouldn't I? It's lovely," Tina replied. Min looked at Ciro for help, but she got none. Ciro merely shrugged, he wasn't about to argue.

"Traitor…" Min sneered, shaking her head and flying onward.

They reached an opening on the cave after a few minutes, the so-called Bridge of Proving. It didn't take much for Ciro to see that, I mean, it was a bridge made of stone that connected two parts of the cavern, only magma below. What he didn't quite expect was there being a pseudo arena in the center of the bridge, with the stone opening up in a circular shape into a circle of a good twenty meters in diameter.

"Something's not right…" Nim said, Tina and Min nodding in response. While Ciro didn't understand why, he was still mostly human after all, but after a quick scan of the area, he found no Behemoth on the bridge. At first, he thought that was what they meant, but then he felt a strange flow of mana. He had felt the Feymarch's mana signature approaching closer and closer the more they dived into the Cavern, however, this one was not that. It was far more primal. Far more violent.

The group slowly made their way across the bridge, ending up on the edge of the arena-like structure before they understood what was going on. Standing atop the shredded remains of the Behemoth, was a being like none they had seen before.

It was a humanoid bug, thrice the size of Ciro. Its blood red shell formed something akin to Eastern Samurai armor, with its prominent golden antennae looking like the horns to its helm-like head. A pair of two azure wings sprouted from its back, stained in what he could only think to be the blood of the beast.

" **'tis feeble attempts at resistance bore me so. Is the prize glittering at the end one worth conquering?** " it spoke, apparently to itself. Ciro was still confused as to what he was bearing witness to. Was that an Esper? It didn't look like any of the ones he had read about. Then again, he had found out about Nim and Min on accident. Then again, the way Tina and the fairies were looking, they were as baffled as he was.

"Oh, so that is what was bugging us," Nim said, Ciro nearly facepalmed at that. That fairy could NOT hold her tongue. Or not pun when she saw one. With a creak, the insectoid creature looked back at them.

"More rabble? Away cretins, I have no interest in minions," it said, clearly unimpressed with the prey he had encountered after killing that Behemoth.

"To hell with you! You just killed Bahamut's child!" Tina said, her fangs showing and gritting. This seemed to catch the monster's attention, as it turned to the group.

" **Bahamut? Most interesting. Very well, you shall serve me and lead me to him!** "it exclaimed, bearing all four of its arms towards them, releasing a shockwave. Tina and the others were hit head on by it. Surprisingly, Ciro felt only some minor wind pressure coming from. Although he couldn't shake the feeling that something had stirred inside him if only for a moment.

"What is wrong with you! Stop trying to steal our Master!" Min blared back, confusing Ciro to no end.

"What do you mean Min?" he asked.

"We don't know what he tried to do, but it felt like he was trying to rip out your essence," Nim said, explaining the feeling she got the best she could. They all looked at Tina immediately, seeing if the spell had had any adverse effect on the hybrid. She trembled… in rage.

"I have no idea what you tried to do with me, but fuck did it hurt!" she blurted, more affected than any of the members there. "Was like it was tearing me apart!" this outburst had the complete opposite effect Ciro expected on the beast. It seemed… excited.

 **"Thou resist tempering? You show promise!** " it exclaimed, opening all four arms. From a torrent of swirling flames above him, four shamshirs came down, landing on the ground around the thing. Their blades mirrored the wings of the creature, with its grips matching the wielder's carapace. "To live is to fight! Wilt thou answer to mine challenge for glorious combat?"

Ciro directly looked at Tina, who had unpacked from her waist a mechanical grip that he knew all too well. He didn't know how she had put her hands on that, but with one swing in the air, the Ultima Weapon activated, a blue ray of light flashing into its master's hand, capable of slicing the very fabric of the world.

"Tina, I know what you're thinking, but we should think this thr-"

"Too late Master," Nim stated, being a herald of the obvious. By this time, Tina had already charged. She had been angered. Tina didn't handle anger. At all.

" **Very well! I, Ravana, fourfold master of the blade will be thine opponent!** " it uttered, crossing all four blades and slicing the air in front of it, causing an X-shaped shockwave. While uncertain of its nature, Tina didn't think twice in avoiding it by sliding beneath it. As she reached Ravana, still on her knees, she swung the blade at its feet, only to be quickly blocked by one of the being's blades. Sliding to the left to dodge the incoming strike, Tina tried to flank her opponent, however she was met again with another one of the four blades, this one reaching square into the back of the being.

" **Impenetrable is my defense!** " it boasted, knocking Tina back. She didn't relent however, taking this opportunity to pounce on Ravana's outstretched shamshir, running through it and into the torso of the monster. While she hadn't spent her life in training, her deft swordsmanship was enough to ensure Ciro that this had won her the battle. Instead, each and every of her successive strikes was met with a point blank parry, some of which came before the attack even commenced. Even whist fighting on top of the opponent's sword, Tina was being pushed back.

Seeing as she was not going to win a sword battle, she charged up a powerful lightning spell onto her free hand, unleashing it in full force moments after Ravana had parried her blade from what she assumed to be a blind spot.

"Thundaga!" she cried out, a miniature storm assaulting Ravana's helm-like head. The lightning had not even stopped when Tina felt her stomach being nearly sliced open and her entire body thrown back like a ragdoll.

" **I… am invincible!** " Ravana proclaimed, emerging from the attack with the barest of scratches.

"Tina!" Ciro exclaimed, running to her side. The wound wasn't as deep as he feared, but he still needed help. Looking at Min and Nim, Nim nodded, Min was already midcast. Casting their Embrace spell along with Ciro's Physick, they managed to fix the wound nearly instantaneously.

"Thanks Ciro," she said, hopping back onto her feet. Ravana had surprisingly given them time to recover.

" **Art thou warrior or craven boy? Come, face me, all of you!** " it told Ciro, awaiting in the same position.

"Normally, I try to avoid this kind of thing but…" Ciro said, sighing heavily before removing a number of orbs from his pockets. "ADS 1 and 2, form up!" he commanded, both of his orbs taking formation around his shoulders. "Tina, you're up!" he assured with a nod.

"Against our better judgement, we will cover your rear cub. Don't let our master down!" Min pointed out, surging with mana.

"Just try and keep up with me. I'm not gonna be holding back anymore!" Tina exclaimed, immediately dropping on all fours. Ciro was at first confused, as were the fairies, but, moments later, it became clear. In a storm of mana and lightning, Tina's clothes and even skin exploded, her hair untied and fur sprouted from the turquoise shell beneath all of it, claws and fangs growing out. Ciro had only seen Tina trance once. It was as fascinating as the first time, if only he had more time to admire it.

And by that I mean Tina had already bolted towards Ravana. With that, Ciro commanded all eight of its orbs to start shooting Ruin spells at Ravana. He either avoided them or gave Tina some time or he took damage. Or so he thought. Using a single of his swords, he was able to constantly parry the barrage of blasts, leaving him with three blades for Tina.

However, while three blades had been more than enough for human Tina, Esper Tina was a whole different bargain. Dodging Ravana's first strike, Tina again climbed up another of his blades, only to stop right before reaching its head. Instead she jumped high up into the air, avoiding both of Ravana's blades. At the same time, Min shouted:

"Dia!" a ray of light hitting Ravana straight in the face, doing minor damage, but most importantly, blinding him for just enough time for Tina to unleash her fury.

"Riot Blade!" she blared out, unleashing her full force right from the get go. Her mother's spell echoed through the halls, slicing through the air and even through parts of Ravana's armor. It meant much less than Tina expected however, her blades had barely cut through the surface of her opponent's exoskeleton. Annoyed, she tried to charge up for one more, successfully may I add. However, Ravana did the unthinkable. He dismissed his swords and lowered his body, adopting a horse stance.

" **Unyielding as the earth!** " he cried out, glimmering lights covering his armor. The second wave of Riot Blades impacted upon it, doing negligible damage this time, if any. To make things worse, Ciro saw Tina still in mid-attack stance while Ravana had been readying some sword of counter attack all along. Dropping his concentration on the orbs, he chanted for a more defensive spell.

"Adloquium!" the relatively advanced healing spell combined a barrier with a healing effect. And while Tina was barely benefited by the healing component, the green shell around her was able to abate the damage from Ravana's swift and engulfing mana laser. Ciro was relieved that he listened to his guts, even if he thought laser shooting was beyond Ravana.

Tina was however, not out of the woods yet. The blast had knocked her senses haywire, shield or no shield, and she was now freefalling into the lava.

"Tina, wake up!" Nim pleaded, flying to her side and casting an Embrace spell. It didn't work, she was still stunned. It was obvious to Nim she needed more firepower. "I can't do this often but… Whispering Dawn!" with her cry, all of her allies were enveloped in a phantasmagorical light, one that revitalized the core of their very beings. Tina's mind snapped back into coherence from this, silently thanking Nim with a nod before shooting back into the arena.

When there, she found herself faced with Ciro doing his best to dodge all of Ravana's blows, having taken more than one glancing strike already. If she had any caution, it was long gone, she committed herself in a swift rush towards the bug, one that didn't go unanswered. She could feel him smile inwardly at such a brazen approach. He swatted Ciro away with his reclaimed shamshir and turned to face her.

" **How my blood doth quicken! Take wing, ye souls of war!** " he exclaimed, various lights of blue and red rising to the ceiling while he somehow combining each pair of two shamshir into one, larger, greatsword. Tina knew he wasn't living a blow from that. " **Fall before me!** " he roared, bringing down both blades towards Tina. His speed however, for the first time failed him, Tina being able to close the gap faster than his blades dropped, jumping into his torso and blasting him with a pair of supercharged double casted Thundaga. The blast was enough to catapult him over the edge, leaving him to fall aimlessly towards the lava. **"I-Impossible!"** he cried out as he fell.

"Great job Tina!" Ciro exclaimed, Min having finished to heal him. Tina knew, however, the victory hadn't been earned by her.

"You slowed him, didn't you Ciro?" she asked with her hands on her waist.

"Well, supportive spells is what I do!" he exclaimed, congratulating himself on a job well done.

"Why would you two celebrate so soon? On guard!" Min ordered, much to the two's surprise. It was only then that they noticed that a strange kind of butterfly had taken over the arena. Their colors mirrored the lights Ravana had released just before being struck by Tina. He couldn't possibly be able to fly…

He was flying.

"Now that's just bullshit! With those wings?!" Tina cursed, getting ready to go back into action.

" **You are worthy of mine full power!** " he proclaimed, and with that, all butterflies erupted in red light, forming a giant blade for each one of them still flying. The ground was filled in dark miasma, giving Ciro just enough time to chant for his group version of Adloquium, Succor. The larger wave of shields hit the group just before they all got shot into the air by an unknown force, along with the blades. " **Rejoice… in the glory of combat!** " with that, he grabbed two of the blades and charged through them, the shields barely holding on. Reaching the other side of the arena, he picked two more and did it once more, destroying the shield. Ravana charged twice more, and only the continuous effect of Nim's Whispering Dawn was able to make the wounds non-fatal. All hope seemed lost when Ravana grabbed the remaining two blades and landed in-between Ciro and Tina, combining them by the hilts into a monstrous two sided blade.

" **Red bloometh the rose of conquest!** " with a final battle cry, Ravana prepared to finish the job.

In a flash, all of that changed. Its motions all stopped and Ravana looked downward, seeing its legs lying down on the ground, only its wings sustaining it. His blade had likewise been cleaved in half. Turning back, it met face to face with an Esper that Ciro did recognize. Odin, the Reaver.

 **"Whilst I abhor treachery in combat, it feels my body with joy that there is battle to be had in this cavern. You may live, children of man. I shall return in time!"** Ravana said, with its final echoing words leaving the group to fall softly on the ground.

"I trust you are safe?" Odin questioned, approaching the four in his steed Sleipnir.

"Safe? Well, yeah, sure, but I think that the fact I am all cut up should make more of an impression on you Odin!" Tina scuffed before coughing up blood. Odin merely handed both her and Ciro a golden phial. "Megaelixirs? How thoughtful,"

"We sensed a disturbance unlike any other in these past decades. I don't think it is strange for us to prepare for the worst," Odin pointed out. Tina just sucked it up and drank all of it, Ciro mirroring her, knowing that the drink's revitalizing effects would extend to his fairies. It was unlike any potion he had ever drank that's for sure. His body glowed as if he had been born again, and he hadn't felt this full of energy in years. Part of him understood why some people got so addicted to elixir. "Now, shall we take this young man into his promised land?" he asked, a surprising gentle adorning him when he addressed the summoner.

"We would appreciate that Lord Odin, but could you please enlighten us on what has just transpired?" Min questioned, doing her best to be proper in the face of the Esper Lord while still in her adrenaline filled state.

"Ride on, I'll try my best to summarize it," Odin assured, gaining the respect of all which took his offer to ride on Sleipnir for the rest of the journey. "As of late, strange happenings have plagued the Feymarch, something you two may not know due to your extended stay in the human world," Min and Nim were a bit ashamed of the fact, but Odin did not appear to bear any grudge, hence they just nodded. "Many Summoners have reported that, when calling upon us, strange beings that call themselves the very same names as us emerge, intent on not helping, but slaughtering and feasting on mana. They closely resemble us, the false Ifrit commands flames and Hellfire and it is the body between beast and man. In light of that, many novice Summoners cannot tell the difference until it is too late. We have attributed this to a strange new sea of mana found beyond the edge of the Feymarch, one much like our own, but in many ways not. We suspect these creatures originate from it. The one you met was one of them, albeit it seems to care not about taking the form of our own,"

"You brought this up with Rydia?" Tina questioned, Odin nodding in return.

"The child of the High Summoner tracked a similar disturbance to the Crystal Tower. She should be investigating it as we speak," he explained, Ciro being the one nodding right now. It all made sense. That's why Cuore had left her job so eagerly. "Do not worry yourselves. As of right now, this is a problem we as a race must are working hard in solving. For now, just take pleasure in the visit to our realm,"

It was a bit hard for any of them to just forget this had happened, but they figured they could at least put it off for a good couple of hours more. Especially because the now less-metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel was fast approaching. Sleipnir took into a dash, leaping towards the thinly veiled portal to the Feymarch, the group felt the aftershock of changing realms for an instant as their vision went blank. When the six legged horse landed, they were in a whole new world.

* * *

The Feymarch had remained much the same, across its entire existence, it was a strange and quaint medieval town divided into tiered floors on a vacuum of a plane. While Tina and the fairies were accustomed to it, Ciro was marveled at it. He had heard tales of it, but the vision of a small town where beings like Shiva were buying what he could only think it to be groceries from a talking Cactuar was something that his Summoner heart skipped beats at witnessing.

"Very well, where do you wish for me to leave you at?" Odin questioned. Ciro didn't want to take too much of an advantage of the Esper Lord's kindness, but Min had another idea.

"If you could kindly escort us to our home we would be most grateful," she requested of Odin, who nodded gently.

"Yes, we have to show us our house!" Nim said excitedly as the horse galloped through the Feymarch. Ciro smiled at the notion. They were so proud of their house every time they talked about it, he couldn't wait but see it on the inside.

"Hope it has a good couch," Tina said, stretching out her muscles from the horse ride.

"Oh, it does! You may not like it too much though," Nim said, Ciro and Tina being left wondering just what that meant. It came to them fairly quickly, as Odin stopped in front of their house.

"We are here. May the Feymarch welcome you with open arms Summoner!" Odin said, signaling the duo to jump off Sleipnir. Ciro did so, but not before asking Odin one thing:

"Were you the one that called for me Lord Odin?" he questioned, Odin shaking his head and turning his horse.

"I have not the power to do so myself! Meet with Leviathan when you are able to, he'll give you the answer you seek!" Odin exclaimed before riding into the distance, leaving Ciro to ponder on his words. Who could it be…?

"The hell is up with your house?!" he heard Tina yell, turning to see her absolutely pale, Min smiled smugly and Nim breaking eye-contact whilst saying:

"Well… I did mean the show part especially…" she said. And then Ciro understood why. Their house was beautiful. Like something out of a fairy tale. A marriage of architecture and nature, it had all a fairy house should have, from the vines the bejeweled doorways and windows, to the… well, size.

Tina was as tall as the house.

"I should have guessed…" Tina said, defeated. Leaving herself to fall back on the pavement below. She was not above sitting on the ground.

"Sorry Master, we sorta forgot to mention it," Nim said with a guilty look on her face. Ciro smiled warmly and gently pet her.

"Nonsense, it's your house and it's beautiful. You can still show me the inside, right?" he asked, brimming with happiness once both fairies lit up in joy and jumped into the house, opening windows and doors so that Ciro could see inside. Even Tina had to smile at the happiness the trio was engaged in.

Part of her did wish she could make someone smile like that.

That was all interrupted however, when another fairy esper, one that was more familiar to her, Sylph, landed on the ground to her side. She thought about just greeting him and moving on, but the Esper had clearly some ulterior motive. Its greeting was shaky, and he had a hastily scribbled paper on his trembling hand. It was then that Tina realized what this was all about. And at the very same moment, she sighed.

"T-Tina Branford Verus, I, Sylph of the Gale, hereby present you with my request for your hand as a mate," if Ciro had a drink when Sylph pronounced those words, he would have spit it out. His eyes bulged in shock and despair as he saw the small green fairy proposing to his… well, to Tina.

The shock wore off quickly though, as he realized that there was a storm brewing. Tina was either going to shred Sylph or shred Ciro's dreams. He was even divided on if he should try and save the Esper if the answer was "no". Tina hated being asked for dates, for reasons he should know better about. Much less MATING!

"Sylph I…" Ciro's heart nearly went into cardiac arrest at that pause, but the answer would come to surprise him. "I don't want this to be an insult towards you, but I am not really looking for a mate as of now. It's not your fault, it's mine,"

Shock and awe. Tina had been nice. This was honestly almost as unheard of as an Esper just walking up to Tina and proposing.

"Ah yes, we should have foreseen that this would occur," Min said exasperatedly, Nim jumping to cover her mouth. It was too late.

"Min, talk. Now." Ciro said, determination and command filling his voice. Min was taken aback by his tone, but she knew she had it coming. So, while Tina comforted a crying Sylph, she broke down and explained.

"Tina is… one of the High Mates. The High Mate all things considered, you must remember that Nimbus is otherwise engaged and thus can't be considered for a mate," confessed Min, Ciro nearly falling off his feet. He didn't know what "high mate" meant, but it wasn't hard to discern.

"One, why didn't you tell me, two, what the hell is a High Mate?!"he blared, for a once angry at his two companions for keeping something from him.

"Well Master, as you see, she's not the most accepting of the role, so we didn't really feel like you'd need that weight on your conscience…" Nim explained, Min nodding back in the same way. "If she had embraced it, we would've told you,"

This was getting unbearable for Ciro, but, before he snapped, he had to at least know what the situation at hand was. And why Tina had been so… strangely nice about it. Had this been going on for a while? And if yes, how long?!

"I sense you want answers my child," a large, elderly looking Esper said as he approached the trio, a long flowing majestic beard, blue robe and staff tipping Ciro of that this was the Lord of Levin, Ramuh himself.

"Papa Ramuh?!" Nim squealed, running up to him and hugging him. Min did the same, albeit less childishly. Ramuh wasn't their father so-to-say, but it was very close to a father figure for the two, something that made Ciro happy he had met him, if not in this situation.

"I knew you two were bringing your summoner to the Feymarch, so I hurried to visit," he explained, before turning to Ciro. "It would take some time to explain this and I would rather do it where we can talk without much of a worry. Meet me at the library once you are done seeing the Feymarch," Ramuh told him, assuring him with his soft tone that everything would turn out fine.

"Will do," Ciro said, taking several deep breaths to shake off the stress.

"Very well my boy. See you soon," Ramuh said, leaving them in a flash of Levin. Moments later, Tina touched Ciro's shoulder, pointing him towards the still watery eyed Sylph.

"The little guy wants to ask you something," Tina said, her motherly edge working on full force right now. It almost made Ciro forget this guy had proposed to her moments before. Almost.

"I am just here to ask, would you add me to your repertoire of summons? Min and Nim talk very highly of you," Sylph asked. Now, Ciro would have thought this would be easy saying no to the guy. Instead, he came to feel pity for him, he was already so depressed as it stood.

"Sorry Sylph, I'm already with my hands tied keeping these two up all the time in the real world. I'm sure you already have lots of Summoners that want to summon you, don't you?" he asked, doing his best to hamper the sense of loss. Sylph looked up and, with a small smile said:

"Yeah, you're right. I understand why they like you so much Ciro, just know, the offer still stands!" Sylph exclaimed, winding up his wings and waving as he flew away.

"You're good with kids," Tina said, to which Ciro chuckled:

"You're better… somehow," he said, Tina puffing her cheeks in return.

"Why so surprised?!" she questioned, somewhat insulted. Ciro took this as his cue to take his fairies and run! "Come back here you!"

* * *

The next few hours were all Ciro expected from the Feymarch. Traveling across all corners of the quaint town, the rustic nature of it encapsulated his interest more than he thought it would. Many Espers he had heard about and seen previously approached him, eager to partner up with him, Espers like Ifrit and Shiva, it was a pity he had to say no to all of them. He wasn't like most Summoners, but they appeared to know that. They just wanted to make him feel welcomed into the community.

Tina was also a magnet for Espers, the one thing Ciro didn't like about this trip. She managed to somehow hold it together, driving them all back with her posture intact. Honestly, this felt like Ciro and Tina were back in school. He just didn't expect to see it in in beings such as a Malboro or freakin' Titan.

While running away from a particularly Tina-adoring crowd, Ciro and Tina caught view of the library. Knowing that Ramuh promised them a safe haven, he lead Tina towards it, closing the door and being relieved when the ones that touched the door from the other side seemed to be electrocuted. Lightning was on his side.

"Thanks Ramuh," Tina told the elderly Esper as he approached them.

"Think none of it. I know how you feel about your position," Ramuh replied. Tina seemed reticent to talk about it in front of Ciro, but she did say:

"Just give me some time you all. I need to go downstairs and have a talk with Levi. This has to at least calm down around here!" she told them all before jumping down a ladder.

"The throne is down there?" Ciro asked, the trio nodding.

"A few flights below, but yes," Ramuh told them before turning his back and showing them sweats for them, even for the fairies. "Now, want to know the story behind Tina's status?"

"It'd take a load of me yes," Ciro agreed, Ramuh nodding.

"Well, first, do you know how our society works?" Ramuh questioned. Ciro shook his head. The inner workings of the Esper society had never come up. "I don't blame you, but it is quite simple to grasp, although the quirks are not quite so obvious," he explained, starting to wind up for the long haul. "In resume, our society is vaguely hierarchical and most of it comes from how much power and respect an Esper commands," Ciro nodded, having had a hunch that was how it worked. "Reason I said vaguely is because we have no real ranks outside of our King, Queen and God. Our town is small enough we are able to know where everyone stands and choose how to act with it,"

"I see, so, how are you all, just for reference?" he questioned. The proud Min bit her tongue, but agreed to spit it out.

"Ramuh is above the midpoint if I had to guess. He's reasonably strong and was granted the librarian task. Us… we are among the youngest of the Espers. It doesn't help we are not exactly battle ready. While we are not bottom of the barrel, we sadly don't have much to show when it comes to status. However, should you need reminding of my and mine sister's powers I need only refer you to the skirmish earlier and there you will see proof of our invaluable service," she explained, Ciro smiling and petting her. He had guessed it, and he knew Min didn't really like having to straight up say it.

"Don't get me wrong, this is interesting to hear, but how does this tie in to Tina?" Ciro asked, Ramuh nodding in return.

"You see, our society, as you can guess, values strength very highly. Not to an obsessive degree, but power belies dedication and the capability to lead us, at least in a general sense. We judge those that we deem too dangerous for power, don't worry," he assured, Ciro accepting this as true, he had no reason to deny it. "With that being said, that does mean that, in our society, mates are often found not by infatuation, but by our view of what will make our line stronger," the pieces of the puzzle all clicked for Ciro now.

"So basically, since Terra's probably the most powerful Esper and she married and equally powerful creature… her children are four-of-a-kind promotional tickets to a great lineage?" he deduced, and, much to his chagrin, he deduced right. "Can't say I like that line of thinking"

"To you humans, maybe it is is strange, maybe even despicable to an extent. Our cultures and societies differ in more ways than one. We, for example, don't value gender. And we could say your society's over glorification of males over the centuries was the same," he pointed out, Ciro retorting with:

"We're actually trying to move out of that though," he said, Ramuh nodding back but saying:

"Yes, and some of us are too, see, myself. However, you cannot blame people for following a culture that is not inherently wrong. We don't treat our mates as objects. Asura and Leviathan very much came to love one another, even though Asura at first approached Leviathan for finding him a good mate. She always wore the pants in that relationship, hoho!" Ramuh said, chuckling heartily at one of his oldest memories.

"I… see. Sorry for overreacting," Ciro told Ramuh.

"Think nothing of it. It is things like this that make Lord Bahamut tell us that we need to slowly adapt to your society before living outside the Feymarch," he explained, Ciro slowly gaining an understanding of the fairies fascination with the outside world.

"Was Tina always this good at handling it?" Ciro asked. Ramuh bellowed a laugh, so did the fairies.

"Oh lord no!" they all exclaimed in harmony. Even Ciro had to laugh at that. Figures. It's Tina after all.

"The first time this happened was when Fenrir, a quite respected member of our society, went to Terra to ask the then ten year old Tina for her hand," Ramuh began, still chuckling. "Terra had to hold Shin back, but even she was unprepared for the request, so her denial was so strict and swift, that it came of as an insult to many of us," Ciro furred an eyebrow, clearly questioning why. "You see, when you turn down a mate without having another one in mind, in our society that is one of two things. You either believe he is too weak for what you want in a mate, or you simply do not respect him. Fenrir disliked both options. As such, he went behind her back to ask Tina directly. I saw the request. Tina was clearly refusing, but Fenrir was slightly on edge from what he perceived to be an insult. When he tried to sweet talk her, and called her… kitten… Tina somewhat broke one of his fangs and bore him a scar on his right eye. Of course, I had to step in before anything worse could happen, as Fenrir was to sure shred Tina if he lost his mind, but the incident was enough to have our rulers have to sit down and explain what was happening to her family, apologize, and triggered Bahamut's want to change our culture,"

"And since then Tina has tried to be less… abrasive?" Ciro asked, the three of them nodding.

"To varying results mind you, a beast such as she can't control every impulse. Although I may have obtained something of great value from this conversation," Min said somewhat evilly. Ciro thought it best to just not ask.

"She really has to handle a lot of weight, doesn't she?" Ciro sighed, feeling somewhat sorry for his friend.

"I'm back. Ramuh, tell the others outside that they aren't to touch me for the next five visits!" Tina proclaimed, feeling victorious. Seeing as they were all sat together, she put two and two together.

"We'll be back soon," Ramuh told everyone, whisking the fairies away, much to Min's anger.

"You got it bad, huh?" Ciro questioned, the duo not maintaining eye contact for more than a moment.

"Could be worse really, I'm kinda used to it by now," Tina replied, suddenly finding the floor a very interesting sight.

"I bet, it's basically a really strange parallel of what happens at school, except, ya know, less normal," he said, trying to crack a joke. It worked in a weird way.

"It's mostly the same for me," she replied, taking Ciro by surprise.

"You consider Espers as valid as humans?" he asked, unknowingly distraught by the thought.

"Ciro, I don't value looks when it comes to relationships. If I did, one of the Espers here could just make a human form just like the man of my dreams and bam, I'd be done," she explained, which made sense in a weird way. Ciro was aware that the most powerful Espers could take human form… he just didn't expect Tina of all people to not care about looks. I mean, she was the definition of a looker herself.

"Why do you reject them then?" he asked, and he could swear he heard palms colliding with faces on the background.

"It's… well… they aren't exactly my type, you know? I-I'm not sure what is, well, I know what is but… look, I know them and none of them appeals to me that way, alright?!" she explained, her pace quickening with each passing word. With this, Ciro gained a state of peace of mind, and felt no real reason to go on.

"I understand. Well, just tell me if you do, I'll be your best man if you want to!" he said, trying to clear the mood. Okay, now he was sure he heard facepalming. Tina blushed at the reaction, muttered something under breath, but decided to just nod in return.

"Yeah, I don't want to think that far into the future. Levi and Asura want to meet you, you ready?" she asked, shaking off her blush.

"Sure, I'll just get Min and Nim and meet you there!" he told her. With that, Tina took the lead. Moments later, Ciro found himself face first on the floor, Min flying above him, seething.

"Your brain is on par with a cockatrice at times," she told him before swiftly going down the ladder. Nim went to Ciro and puffed her cheeks before following her sister. Ramuh only laughed at Ciro's confusing. He would learn with time.

* * *

Considering he had met with Leviathan and Asura earlier that day, it wasn't that hard for Ciro to grasp the idea of talking to the rulers of Espers, but he was still nervous as he entered the audience chamber.

"Well met Ciro!" Leviathan greeted, Ciro bowing in return.

"It is an honor your Majesty," he spoke back, Leviathan getting a kick out of it.

"You should be more like him Tina," he told the girl, who scoffed in return. "Has your visit to the Feymarch been pleasant Ciro?"

"More than pleasant! The Espers welcomed me with open arms and the town is beautiful!" Ciro exclaimed, meaning all he said.

"That is wonderful news Ciro," Asura told him, treading looks with her husband. "With that in mind, we are a bit late. Do you know why you were summoned here Ciro?" the young man questioned himself before asking:

"Is this about refusing to be the Summoner to every Esper? I'm so sorry about that, is just that, me, Min and Nim have-"

"Hoho, calm down there dear boy. We are not here to punish you," Leviathan said, more than bemused. He could only imagine how much Ciro had been pestered for this to be his reaction.

"We are here to bestow upon you a great honor," Ciro, Tina, and even the twins looked on, confused. What could be a great honor even in the eyes of those two...

"No way," Tina said as soon as it came up to her mind. "The one that called for Ciro was…"

"The Hallowed Father himself," Asura confirmed. "Not only that, but he has requested an audience with Ciro on his own accord," Blasting Ciro's mind into oblivion, this news shocked everyone in the room except the rulers.

"Bah-Bahamut? The Dragon King?! The God of all Espers?! What could he possibly want with me?!" he gagged, even Min and Nim were speechless.

"No clue honestly," Leviathan told him with a shrug. "Find out yourself! Just go through that door in the back and you'll be at Lair of the Father," the wise but perky old Esper told him, pointing at the door behind him.

"Y-you sure?" Ciro asked, receiving nods in return.

"I'm curious myself Ciro. Shall we?" Tina asked him, grabbing his shoulder.

"Tina, he requested an audience with Ciro, not Ciro and his guide. You, me and my husband will stay behind. Him and his partners have to go in alone," Asura said, making sure to cast a silence spell on Tina immediately. "Go now, you wouldn't want to make Father Bahamut wait, would you?" Asura asked. Ciro swallowed dry, looked at his fairies, which could only shakily nod back.

They made their way past the door, and into the dark reaches of a large cavern. Walking for a full minute, Ciro wondered if his was the right place. All before a dark, menacing voice boomed:

" **Ciro Adamas. I have been awaiting you…** " the voice called, a shadow creeping through the shadows of stalactites past Ciro through the barely lit caverns.

"Lord Bahamut?" Min questioned, somewhat estranged by the dragon's behavior.

" **Yes little fairy. I am He. But who is this Master you serve?** " Bahamut questioned, the shaking ground and the ever growing shadowy figure heralding his coming, circling around Ciro like he was his prey.

"Our Master is… our summoner," Nim pointed out.

" **Or is he? Tell me then Ciro. Why must you, and no other Summoner, keep my children tied to your world? Why must you deny any other Esper? Are they your beloved Espers? Or do you presume yourself as someone that can call himself their owner?!** " At this point, the shadow was no longer circling around Ciro. It had engulfed him. They could see the light from above slowly vanish, as Bahamut's brilliant eyes shone above him, the Dragon King sizing his prey. "Tell **me human, what makes you worthy of taking my children away? What makes you different from the Maenads that enslaved our race?** "

Ciro froze. Was Bahamut really thinking of him as an enemy? Had this all been an elaborate ruse to get him to come here? Was he lied to?! All of these questions threatened to consume him, if not for the doorway to the Lair exploding, the shining form of Tina's Esper form standing between him and Bahamut, crouched like a tiger ready to strike at a dragon.

"You're not Bahamut…" she hissed, stalking at the beast. "The Bahamut I know is kind, compassionate. What beast are you?"

" **Tina, begone. If he cannot answer this correctly, he has no right to be a Summoner!** " he boomed. "And watch your tongue. I am a father defending my children. Nothing more, nothing less! You'd do well to remember that, as you are in my realm!" There was something in that that snapped Ciro out of it.

"Tina, let me handle this," he told her resolutely. The girl looked back at him, and saw in those eyes someone that needed no help. Begrudgingly, she landed near him and handed him of his ADS.

"I used the transmitter function to spy on you," she confessed. Ciro had to admit, she was clever when she wanted to.

"Bahamut, you ask me why they call me their Master? I once asked myself the same thing," he began, looking at his faeries in the eye, who nodded back. "I summoned them out of a mistake. I had no idea they even existed before I flunked my Sylph summoning. They were shocked that I was even able to summon both of them. Let alone maintain them,"

"If there was one thing this child had it was an abundance of mana. He didn't have much else to his name, but that was the one thing we required," Min continued, staring at her lord in the face. "Lord Bahamut, I know that you would have us avoid war by not interact with human kind just yet, but some of us are desperate to see the world outside. When Master summoned us I saw him as my sister and I's only shot at viewing the human world. I may have found him lacking and unrefined then, and to be honest he still has much progress to make, he had the tools to help me obtain my goal,"

"We talked to him about what he wanted with being a summoner. He… said he just wanted to try it out. Knowing that he was our one chance, I begged of him to let us stay with him in the human world. Min even started calling him Master for it. She was far more polite than me, and explained that we wanted to see the world out, and we'd do our best to help him whatever he wanted in return," Nim proclaimed, looking back to Ciro.

"...Lord Bahamut, as you can see, they want to see more of my world just as much as I wanted to see more of theirs. As long as they want me to, I'll be their bridge to the human world," Tina nearly let her jaw hit the floor. It took balls to go against Bahamut's in his own realm. She wasn't even sure she'd be able to do it herself. Sure, Ciro's knees looked like they were about to give in, but he had stood up to the Platinum Dragon himself. Tina didn't care he was afraid, his actions spoke louder than his fears.

The cavern went silent for a few moments. Then, the large figure vanished, letting the light reenter it. Bahamut's human form, a man in his mid-thirties of platinum hair, dressed in a black cloak, now stood before them. He silently walked up to Ciro before putting his hands on his shoulders:

"I am glad that you were the one to summon them," he told the young boy. With that, everyone calmed down. "I was testing you Ciro," he began, pacing back into the light. "You see, I wanted proof. Proof that Espers could be more to Summoners than just partners in battle. Rydia was one piece of proof. Terra was another. However, at no point in time was there ever a summoner that kept Espers by his side like you do. I observed you. And in it I saw a solution to our plight,"

"You mean, how the Espers cannot leave the Feymarch easily do the culture differences?" Ciro asked, Ramuh's conversation about the worries of Bahamut still ringing in his mind.

"You are sharp. I expected so. Yes. Espers cannot leave the Feymarch easily without understanding human culture. But how could we do that? How could we accustom ourselves without causing outrages?" he asked, then pointed to Ciro. "You Ciro, are my solution. And you proved yourself worthy of it. I don't ask much of you. Live as you have. Be the living proof this kind of bond can exist. We Espers will do the rest,"

"I… I won't let you down Lord Bahamut!" Ciro replied, his pride swelling, alongside his fairies.

"Very well, take this, a gift!" Bahamut exclaimed, creating a small sphere of light, in it burning the flames of his dragon form. It slowly floated towards Ciro, who wondered for a moment if he should grab it. The sphere answered that itself, as it bolted into his chest, vanishing into the boy's torso, just above his heart. He felt no change come upon his body, yet Bahamut knew of this, coming to explain. "That is a seed, a seed of great power. A seed of my power. Take this as a proof of our pact. You may not be able to summon me, especially whilst maintain Min and Nim, but with enough effort, you may channel my power without needing to do so. I have bestowed this power to no other human, not even my High Summoner. Be proud Ciro Adamas, you are the first human to possess the Seed of the Dreadwyrm!"

By now, Ciro was thinking this was way too much, but who was he to deny a request of the God of Espers? Even Tina was proud of her friend. Especially Tina. So much so in fact, that she swiped one other thing from him. A camera he had brought into the Feymarch.

"This is history in the making! We gotta immortalize it!" she exclaimed, momentarily wondering who could take the picture. Then, a lone ADS orb floated in front of her, Ciro had an idea. Tina balanced the camera on top of the orb, setting a timer for it. "Ready?" she asked. Even Bahamut was in on it. When everyone nodded, she set the timer to ten, ran over to the group, and pulled Ciro into a hug, their bizarre adventure to the Feymarch being recorded in a picture with the Dragon King himself.

* * *

 **Post-Author's Note:** So yeah, a more meaty chapter this time around. Both in size and content. For the more attentive of you, you can start to see hints at how AUS2 will work. You won't be able to straight up guess it yet though. You gotta wait for that. Hope you enjoyed this one shot and this large peer into the mindsets of Tina, another one of the protagonists of AUS2, along with Ciro, which won't have a small role either. As always, let me know how you liked it!

Happy Birthday Jade!


	3. Angel Wings

**Author's Note:** And now we're back to something I have had no hand in outside of slight conceptual help. Jade wrote yet another chapter for this fic, but this one is special. As you can tell by the title, this is a two-parter. One of which is written by him, the other will be written by yours truly at a later date.

 **TUH:** So, Jade, what did you try and achieve with this chapter?

 **Jade:** Well we needed to introduce some more of the AUS2 cast, and who better to start with than Fay?

 **TUH:** I can sense a clear bias here. But hey, at least this has the biggest number of characters introduced so far in this fic. Were they hard to write? And more importantly, feel like they came of as we wanted?

 **Jade:** Well the new guys were hard to write since well... they're new. Feel we got across their core character at least here which is what we needed to do for the second part.

 **TUH:** Fair enough. So, what do you want to see the most out of the second part?

 **Jade:** How they developed as a group and more of the new guys, here we mostly see Fay and her odd set of powers.

 **TUH:** And there you have it folks, now tune in for the chapter!

* * *

 **An Unfinished Scrapbook**

 **The Third Picture**

 **The First Wave**

 **Part 1: Angel Wings**

* * *

The sun beat down through the windows of the Branford Academy turning the turning the classroom into small hotbox. Four sets of six desk, set up in a two by three fashion, were clustered in the class room. Sitting in the front right cluster of desk on the far left side was a young girl of 15. She had silver-white hair that fell down to her back, a small pure silver floral hairclip pulled the waterfall together at her neck, causing the rest to flare out. Her dark purple eyes, hidden behind a pair of silver half-rimmed glasses, poured over the book she had laid out on the desk. Like every other student of the school, she wore the uniform of the Branford Academy. A red collared button-up shirt under a violet vest paired with a plaid red and dark violet skirt, the length of said skirt was up to the individual and this particular girl had a full length one on despite the heat. She was a well endowed girl, but the fact she wore a uniform two sizes too big helped hide this fact under the baggy look. Still her most astonishing feature was the pair of pure white feathered wings that lay folded up against her back.

Having such a pair of wings, along with her personality, had earned her the status of an angel among some of her schoolmates. Some of the more religious members of the school took it to an extreme and followed her around during breaks while others simply tried to garner her attention, and thus they hoped God's. Most people left her alone though, while not exactly a common sight, a person with an extra appendage of sorts wasn't an unfamiliar thing to those of the school and so she was just regarded as another person amongst the throng of students, which was much to her liking.

Fayette, or Fay to most, was waiting to talk with the teacher before class. Currently everyone was still out eating lunch and Fay had taken advantage of that fact, avoiding the crowds of people. What was starting to worry her though was that lunch was already halfway over with and still there were no signs of the teacher. Going over her math book and trying to make sense of what was written inside, Fay desperately wanted help understanding the recent assignment. By no means was she a dumb girl, she studied hard to maintain a solid B average. However, this did not mean she was quick to grasp everything that was taught in class, hence why she studied and sought help from the teacher now.

"Oh Elly, where's Mr. Dent?" Fay asked the small fire spirit that appeared before her. In all actuality the fire "spirit" was nothing more than a small Esper, only Fay referred to Ellylldan as a spirit due to his appearance. Being nothing more than a floating fire with a face, spirit was an apt term for how the small fire Esper looked.

Rather than give the girl a reply, Ellylldan floated down to the desk and pressed the button to bring up the holographic monitor that was outfitted in every desk throughout the school. Seeing as how Fay had already logged into the computer, one of the things that appeared was her schedule running down the side of the screen. Ellylldan floated over to the section that was labeled for her math class and found that the teacher's name was no longer Mr. Dent, but instead Miss Mist. In a puff of smoke the fire spirit vanished just as suddenly as it had manifested, going back to residing within Fay's mana stream alongside her other Esper, Wisp.

Unlike some of the other kids who had animalistic features, Fay's younger sister Iris for example had wolf features, Fay wasn't born with her wings. They were a part of the magic system that she had discovered back as a child. Small Espers like Wisp and Ellylldan were comprised of raw elemental energy and she was able to absorb them into her own mana. When she had first done so with Wisp seven years ago, she had grown the pair of wings as a result. Both Espers resided within her mana but she only was in sync with one at a time, namely the Light Esper Wisp. Should she choose to sync with Ellylldan instead, her wings would turn a combination of yellow, orange, and red to resemble a fire. Wings weren't the only thing they gave her, Fay had a hard time using magic on her own, but when she was synced with one of the Espers, using magic of their element was almost second nature to her.

"Thank you Elly." Returning to reading the instructions in the textbook Fay tried to make sense out of what she was supposed to be doing. The problem she was working on was simple, but somewhere she was tripping up and she just knew that she was getting something wrong.

The door to the classroom opened quietly and if Fay wasn't looking in that direction by chance, she would have completely missed the person coming in. She was a woman that looked to be in her early twenties with long teal hair done in a French braid. Calculating azure eyes stared straight ahead, seeming to ignore the lone body in the room. Her outfit was that of your standard researcher, only one thing on her outfit would catch someone's attention, an intricate red hairpin, an item of Mist. Judging by how she went to the board and started writing, Fay quickly assumed that this was Miss Mist, her substitute teacher for the day.

Worryingly though Fay looked at this woman. Fay's use of Espers was unique, but new ways to use summons were springing up left and right, but she had another power at her disposal, an ancient one that he recently resurfaced with the vast changes to the world. Her one truly inherent power was Empathy, not just a simple understanding of a person's feelings, no, Fay was able to read a person's emotions on a magical level. Just by being in their vicinity, Fay was able to feel the emotions of the people around her. What was worrying her was the lack of emotion from the teal haired woman. It wasn't that she was fully devoid of emotion, the feelings she gave off were just… weak. It was like they had something laid over them preventing the normal intensity that Fay was used to feeling from people.

"Um," Fay whispered, more than a little nervous to be talking to this person, as she got up from her seat and approached the teacher's desk. "Would you by chance be Ms. Mist?"

"Yes," she answered swiftly as she wrote a few math problems on the board to prep for the class.

"If you don't mind," taking a breath to gather courage to speak with this unfamiliar stranger she plowed through the remainder of her sentence, "would you help me figure out this problem?"

"Certainly," Ms. Mist responded, the joy inside her welling up.

"You're going to have to take a rain check on that Cuore," a decidedly male voice said from the classroom's doorway. A young man with silver hair that went down to his shoulders, he wore the male version of the school uniform, marking him as student. He had one addition to his uniform, a lone dark grey scarf. Blue eyes were deadlocked with the teal eyes of Ms. Mist, the young man's posture gave him an aura of confidence.

"Why is that Kaze?" Cuore asked the student.

"I had a parent-teacher conference so Mother's here and she packed a lunch for us all." Cuore physically cringed at the words. "Don't worry, Father made it, Mother just brought it."

"Sorry…" Cuore looked down at Fay remembering that she hadn't gotten the girl's name yet.

"Fayette Fuco, most people call me Fay." With a bow towards the Prince of Eblan and Cuore, Fay went to head back to her desk to set about studying by herself once more.

"Stop by the library after school, "Cuore told Fay, "I'm tutoring a few others there today and you're welcome to come along if you're serious about learning." Heading out of the classroom with Kaze, Cuore left the young silver-haired girl to her studying.

"Sorry to take my sister away from you when you needed help but, she really can't say no to Mother," Kaze apologized before he to left the classroom. It wasn't until he had said "sister" that Fay had put it together that her substitute teacher was Cuore Mist Geraldine, crown princess of Eblan.

* * *

"What am I going to do Wisp? The princess of a country just offered to tutor me." A ball of blue flames in the similar shape to the fire spirit appeared. Wisp, a small Esper composed of pure Light mana, hovered in the air. Floating down to the textbook on the desk the spirit turned the page and waited for his partner to pick up her pencil and start working before he vanished back into her mana stream.

Standing outside the doors to the library Fay felt out of place. While normally she'd retreat to the library at any possible time given half a chance, she now hesitated to go inside and be tutored by one of the smartest people in the world, least from her understanding about the princess.

"Hey, you here to have Cuore teach you to?" a little boy that looked no older than ten stood next to her. He had a messy mane of orange hair that was complimented by his equally orange eyes. Like any other student of the Branford Academy, he wore the school's uniform. Unlike some of the older kids though he didn't have any additions on it, having no real standing to do so yet. "My name's Aeolos, my parents are Refia and Luneth!"

"And how many times have they told you not to blurt that out to people you've just met?" a teen appeared behind the boy. This one had silvery-brown hair pulled back into a shoulder length ponytail, his bangs were parted slightly to the sides and hung down from underneath a bandana. His eyes were an icy blue but they still radiated a warmth that spoke of a kind nature. "Name's Sky Chere. If you know the surname, don't even try to be intimidated. This guy next to me is Kefka, he doesn't talk much, well except to Cu."

Standing next to Sky Chere was a very familiar face to Fay, Kefka Verus. His blonde hair was in the normal loose and wild manner she was accustomed to seeing. His blue eyes expressed a boredom with the introduction and this delay in getting into the library where he clearly had some business.

"Hey Fay," was all he said in response to his friend's introduction of him.

"How you doing Kefka? Coming to the library to hide from our sisters?" Fay asked knowing that after school Iris was heading over to the Verus household and that'd add more noise than Kefka probably wanted to deal with for being at home.

"Well don't I feel dumb for introducing you two."

"Aeolos asked a good question though, why are you here Fay?"

"I was having some problems in math class and Ms. Mist told me to meet her here after school if I wanted help. Honestly I had no idea that she was Cuore Geraldine when I asked her for help." Very embarrassed by this fact Fay held her books close to her chest and hung her head to hide herself from the looks of the others.

"She'll be happy that she was able to hide that fact from one person at least," Kefka said as he opened the doors to the library.

The Branford Academy's library was vast to say the least. It had to hold enough books that the youngest students would use alongside books that were used all the way up at the college level. To fit all those levels of books the library understandably had a few floors to it and countless number of shelves. The upper levels were connected by spiral staircases, a few in the corners of the building while others were scattered through the layout.

Kefka led the group through the mess to the upper levels where they found Cuore already sitting down with a stack of books so large that if it was a normal person sitting with them you'd assume that people had simply left books on the desk. Instead they were all related to Cuore's research that she was currently in the midsts of doing, when she wasn't teaching at the academy.

Sitting on the other end of the table that Cuore had procured was Kaze with a couple of old looking scrolls that he was looking over. He too had a mess of items around him, all scrolls, but nowhere near even a third of the stack his sister had.

Aeolos hurried over to the table and took a seat next to Kaze and reached over to grab one of the scrolls only to find himself floating over to the seat next to Cuore where the books had magically moved to create space for the kid and his books. While Fay was shocked at such a forward display of magic the others seemed to take it in stride, even Aeolos just set about getting his books out of his school bag as if nothing had happened.

Everyone took a spot and pulled out their own books to start studying, leaving Fay to stand awkwardly as she didn't know where she was supposed to sit. Kefka had taken the spot at the end opposite of Cuore and had been flanked by Sky so the one person she knew she couldn't sit next to. Instead she took a spot further down the table and started getting out her own homework to see what she could do.

It wasn't long into her study session that Aeolos started to get fidgety. Not only was he physically moving about but his emotions were acting up just like he was causing Fay to lose mental focus on her own work. After a few seconds of this, when his boredom became his strongest emotion he stood up and started to wander around. Much like what had first happened when he tried to sit next to Kaze, Aeolos was whisked back to his seat by Cu, who was currently explaining some of the math problems that Sky was having problems with, Fay was listening intently to information.

"Hey Kaze, what's this one about?" Aeolos asked as he picked up one of the scrolls that the teen was reading. The prince gave him a short description of the ninjutsu that was described within the scroll and how a ninja would use it. As one would expect of the Prince of Eblan, Kaze was very talented in such arts. Noticing how easily that this distracted Aeolos, Fay smiled at the young boy. In a few ways he reminded her of Iris, an abundance of energy that couldn't keep focused.

"So Kefka," Sky said while he looked directly at Fay, "this girl you know, she sure looks great doesn't she?"

"Hmm?" Kefka replied as he looked up from his books, "oh yeah, sure" was his simple reply before his nose was back in his college level chemistry book.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting he's only into older women," Sky laughed at his friend's answer. Then he noticed how Fay started to turn red, her wings outstretched and moved forward to hide her face. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." With a sheepish look on his face Sky tried to apologize but anything he more he might have been about to say was interrupted by an explosion from Aeolos' side of the table. Books, table, and scrolls had caught fire from the explosion.

Crying could be heard from the floor as Aeolos clutched his hands, badly burned by the fire. Fay got up from her seat and rushed over, she completely ignored the torrent of emotions coming off the young boy as she knelt down next to him. Taking his hands in her own Fay started to work her magic on him. Slowly the burns faded from his hands and appeared on Fay's.

Once Aeolos' hands were free of any burn marks Fay let go and stood up. Even knowing that the pain was coming Fay wasn't able to fully brace for it fully and while she waited for her own accelerated healing to kick in, her eyes started to well up with tears.

"What did you do that for?" Cuore asked as she cast the spell for Cure to help the patch up the empath's hands.

"I...just acted," Fay answered. Cuore may be a Maenad and have great magical potential, but even she needed practice for spells and as such, her Cure wasn't strong enough to fully mend Fay's hands.

Red light radiated from Fay and mixed with the green light of the Cure spell as Ellylldan rode the mana right through Cuore before heading back into Fay. During the brief instance that Ellylldan's power mixed with Cuore, Fay felt every emotion with the Maenad flare up. Once the fire spirit returned to Fay the emotional flare died down, leaving only one emotion standing above the rest, fear. Cuore was visibly disturbed by what had just occurred.

"Are you okay?" looking over at Cuore, Fay tried to sense her emotional state to get a read on what was going on in her mind. Looking around Cuore was still in a state of shock at what just happened. There was nothing around her that she could see that would have caused such a thing, her fear actually appearing on her face as she searched for the source of the flare. Kaze came running over to his sister to see what was going on, everything had gone down so suddenly that all he saw was Cuore's face go from calm to frightened in the span of a breath.

"What happened?" Curoe asked as she started to get ahold of herself. "Kefka, Kaze, did you two see anything?" Both of the mentioned boys shook their heads, they were just as lost as she was. "Sky, Aeolos, either of you?" Resorting to the others to find information Cu was desperate to find out what was going on. Of course, neither of them had any idea either.

"I know what's went on," Fay answered with a smile on her face. He white wings were replaced with the flame colored set that showed she was now linked with her fire spirit. "Ellylldan here could sense your power and was interested in you so he caught a ride on your spell and, to put it simply he checked you out."

"Fay?" Kefka asked, confused as to why she was so forthcoming with information. She was normally as shy as Priscilla around people so he wasn't prepared for her to answer so readily.

"Don't worry Kefka, I'm still me. You know how I have always had Wisp?" At the mention of his name the light spirit appeared in a flash for all to see. "Well I also have another spirit, Ellylldan. That's who's in me at the moment and the cause of this slight personality change, not to mention my wings."

"It's an Esper," Cuore deuced from the fact that Wisp was made entirely of mana.

"Yes, they're not the ones that people normally summon but they reside in the Feymarch all the same." Fay explained to the group while Wisp fluttered around everyone. Aeolos reached up and touch the ball of blue fire to find a warmth radiate over his hand from the esper's power. "Wisp there is who I normally am synced with and he gives me increased regenerative powers, it's why I didn't think twice about healing his hands."

"So if they are Espers then what do you mean that you're synced with them?" Kaze questioned. While he wasn't a summoner like his mother, more taking after his father in terms of skill, he knew what summoners could do with Espers and he hadn't heard about "syncing" with them before.

"Summoning Wisp or Ellylldan wouldn't do much, they don't have enough power to be of use to a summoner. I don't know if it's something they're unique to them or if I'm the unique one, but I can sync the mana flow inside me with them and use their powers. The trade off is that I both physically and mentally change when I do that." Fire red wings beat as Fay talked, to show just what she meant when she said she physically changed.

"You mentally change?" Intrigued by what she was talking about Cuore wanted to gain a better understanding of just what Fay meant by that.

"Yes, I'm normally shy as you guys could see but that's when I'm not synced with Elly here, it's more my natural state. Wisp gives me a more positive outlook on life while Elly…. Elly enhances all my emotions, I'm currently feeling more courageous than I normally would so I can get through this explanation, he seems to be able to pick and choose what he inflames at times."

"I see, so when he passed over to me the same thing happened, all my emotions went on a rampage." Coming to grasps with what had transpired Cuore was able to figure that the fire spirit had simply done what it normally did.

"That's the gist of it," Fay confirmed. "I didn't know that he'd do that though, I swear."

"Just don't let him do it again," with that said Curoe went back to her seat

"One more thing!" Sky exclaimed as he pointed as Fay's hands that were still covered in first degree burns from her healing. "What did you do to heal Aeolos?"

"She's an empath," Kefka supplied, already knowing the answer. Back when he had first met Fay she had played a few games of chess against her and at the time he hadn't know about her powers so she'd been able to use them to gauge his reactions to her moves and won the first couple matches. It hadn't been until Iris had informed him of Fay's powers that he had understood what was happening. At first he felt insulted and tricked but he had gotten over it, Fay had just been making full use of her repertoire of skills to play the game. Now when they played he was able to keep that in mind and tried to exploit it against her, trying to feel excited rather than worried when she was making a move that'd be in her favor.

"An empath?" Unfamiliar with term Aeolos looked at his elders for an explanation.

"She's able to read the emotions of other people." Happy to know what was going on again Cuore answered the ten year old's question easily. "Most humans can understand what another is feeling based on social cues, an empath is able to completely read the emotional state of those around them. The ability is uncommon but it would also explain how she healed. Not only are empaths able to read emotions, they can heal others by taking the pain onto themselves instead, that's why her hands were burned after she healed Aeolos."

"That's really cool," Sky said as he looked at Fay in a new light, her wings having reverted to Wisp-white. "I mean, it'd be hard for people to lie to you, you could sense their stress."

"Can you teach me how to do it?!" Aeolos exclaimed, wanting to master such an ability for himself.

The only one silent on the matter was Kaze. He seemed to keep his distance from her while Sky and Aeolos had moved right up to her with questions about her powers and how they worked. Still, while Kaze kept his distance from her, he couldn't stop her from reading his emotions and what she felt was a very familiar set of emotions, ones that she could pinpoint with deadly accuracy, she could feel the curiosity radiating off of him.

Fay looked at them in awe, once people found out about her powers they kept their distance from her. No one wanted to be friends with a person that could intrude on their mind like that hanging around them. So far the only ones that had accepted her had been Kefka and his family, people who understood what it meant to have powers that you didn't ask for.

Cuore then reminded them that they were all there to study, she looked specifically at Aeolos who just laughed as he jumped into his seat to once again hit the books. No longer worried about the people around her so much, Fay moved her seat closer to Sky and together they worked on their math homework, Cuore and Kefka offering help when the two needed it and Aeolos wasn't acting up again.

After a few more hours of studying in the library Fay's cellphone vibrated as she got a message from her mom to head home soon and to remember to pick up Iris on her way back. Fay packed her belongings into her floral purple bag and thanked everyone for their help that day. Just as she was walking down the stairs Sky called out to her:

"We're meeting up tomorrow since there's no school, you should come join us we'll be at the west entrance to the city, Cu's taking us out on another research expedition so bring a weapon if you got one. A camera too!" Sky called out to her, earning him a few deadly glares from the librarians and the patrons of the place. Embarrassed for Sky and for the looks that she was receiving from the other people Fay simply nodded and waved goodbye before dashing down the stairs to get away from the attention that she had suddenly gotten.

Reaching outside Fay looked up to see that the sun had already set and the stars had started to come out. Not wanting to deal with walking all the way to the Branford household in the dark Fay's wings unfolded and with a few mighty beats she took to the skies, flying over the buildings that stood in her way. For the first time since she had started school, Fay felt like she had finally found a group of people that she could stick around and be friends with, a group where she could be herself and not have to hide her powers, they knew and most of them seemed to accept what she was capable of.

Soon, a picture of her newfound group of friends had found its way to her bedside.

* * *

 _To be continued in;_

 **Part 2: The Crystal Tower**

* * *

 **Post-Chapter note:** As you'd expect, this chapter was very much focused on introduction and setting up stuff, which is the nature of a two-part one shot most of the times. Next time I do plan on giving you the actual group dynamic and how they bounded, along with something else that the title hints at… so yeah, see you when I find the time to go back to this story!


	4. Spooky, Spookier, Yet Spookier

**Author's Note:** Better late than never. I got sick while writing this chapter, hence why it's so delayed from its original date of Halloween, but instead of just holding it back for a year, I'll just spook you a bit from outside the expect date. It's as they say, the unexpected spook, is the spookiest.

* * *

 **An Unfinished Scrapbook**

 **The Fourth Picture**

 **The Halloween Special!**

 **Spooky, Spookier, Yet Spookier**

* * *

 **October 31st, 20 P.R.**

It was that time of year again, Halloween, the bipolar holiday that was supposed to be both spooky at fun at the same time. Where you honour the dead by celebrating, and where more than one spooky scary skeleton rose from its death into its… well, undeath.

Fortunately, most paranormal activities had diminished enough to have massive spookatrons be a problem of the past, and the holiday in all planets had slowly drifted away from quiet festivity into something that held its ground against the big heavyweights like Christmas.

In any case, our family was all but inexperience in Halloween, in fact, some of them had already entered the festivities with everything planned for the night, for the most part at least.

Tina, always fashionably late when it came to dress-ups, was trying to finish up her own dress by adjusting the small bat-wings that served as hair adornments. Daring costumes was something she did not shy away from, she embraced them, and this year, she'd just bit the big one when it comes to daring. Not many girls had the… gall so to say to dress up as a succubus, but Tina had all of it and more. Sure, she didn't pick the most revealing of outfits, after all, let's face it, Shin would die from seeing her using an over PG-13 succubus costume, so, she had just taken inspiration in one of the more "teen-friendly" ones she knew. Her legs were fully covered by violet leggings with bat symbols all over them, and she black boots and a matching dress that just showed quite a bit of her cleavage and a small, heart-shaped form just below her chest. She adorned her arms with the same kind of tissue as her legs, and used a few bat-wings props to get the Halloween feeling going with two small wings on her head and a large pair hanging from her waist. Because the succubus she was dressing as, Morrigan, had straight hair, she had just cheated a bit with her lightning magic to force it uncurl itself. Would be hard getting it back to straight, but oh well.

In any case, with a pose to the mirror to confirm that she was, in her mind, the sexiest thing alive, she found her job enough to call it and left her room. The entire house had been decorated for the occasion, mostly due to the most enthusiastic members of the household when it came to Halloween, with pumpkins being dime of a dozen, all with a different art to them, not to mention the fake cobwebs and all that came with Hallow's Eve.

"Can't believe you're actually not the last one to get ready," Kefka said with a tiny bit of frustration on his voice. As much as he liked the atmosphere of Halloween, he did not enjoy their plans for the year, or waiting. Heck, if not for Cuore verbally threatening him into dressing up, he would not have at all. She had even picked his dress for him. With a bit of help dying his hair with magic, he now sported silver hair and the dark trench coat look you had come to expect from the more noble vampires of yore. With a pair of amber lens and an Enhancer sword taken right out of their parent's armoury, Kefka's nerdier appearance had vanished and given way to a much more sinister one, fitting, considering Cuore had basically forced him into dressing as Sorin Markov.

"I'm probably the last one to get dressed, but Pris' more than likely sneaking around the kitchen right now for some sweets. Nimbus… probably lost track of time," Tina admitted, chuckling at how her sister was so amazing at keeping track of workout hours but when it came to dressing up, she always overestimated her speed. She wasn't slow per say, but she'd just leave everything to the literal last minute.

"Sorry I'm late!" Nimbus shouted just in time to prove Tina right, soaring from the top of the stairs, landing heavily on the ground floor moments later, huffing and puffing already from hastily putting her costume on.

"Wow, you're not Goku this year? Did you grow some originality in the backyard while I wasn't looking?" Tina teased. Nimbus had not changed her costume code for the last… seven years give or take which had made her a bit of an inside joke on the family, her admiration for heroic characters taken a bit to the extreme sometimes. She also loved to incorporate her trance, and that just fit previously. Right now however, she was just wearing a red gi with a pair of leather hand-guards, a black belt and no shoes to speak of. And she still managed to be late.

"Well, Leo kinda poked around at that too, so he suggested we'd just do a couply thing for once and wear matching outfits. I wanted to be Ryu, but I'm _blonde,"_ she said, gesturing to her entire body covered in golden fur. "So I took Ken, and he got Ryu!"

"Priscilla! Our fridge was full a couple of ours ago! Back into the porch before we have nothing to give out for trick or treaters!" Shin's voice cried out in a volume that warranted an raised eyebrow even from his family. He really got into the spirit of whatever holiday he was in, especially if it involved costumes.

The white draconic-esper literally was thrown out of the kitchen, spinning around and landing on her feet due to only their mother's magic hampering her fall. How Terra was able to keep that control while she was at the doorway, answering the never-ending calls of trick or treat, the younglings had no idea.

Finally, the last of the four was in front of them. Priscilla did not dress to shock. Her hair was dyed white, something she had learned from Iris since the last time they went out, she still wore a white dress, however this one was longer and puffier, lined with white fur. Two white wing props hanged from her waist down, at around the same height as her tail, which looked part of the costume by now. Two prop white horns had been attached to either side of her head, her eyes had red contact lenses in them, along with matching face paint. She looked like the perfect humanoid White Fatalis. She also had chocolate smeared all over her mouth.

Tina swooped into action and cleaned it all right off with a handkerchief she had gotten from go knows where, scolding Pris for overeating in the process. Luckily for her, she somehow never got fat. Maybe her tail did?

"You're all ready to go?" Terra asked, returning from the entrance with the basket of sweets on her hand. She smiled at her children, she always liked them being enthusiastic about anything, and they were all, well, almost all, really into the holiday. She was too, she had died her hair blue and wore a black skin-tight suit with red markings on it to match her husband.

"Yeah, just waiting for our neighbours to come along, I promised Iris we'd all go together!" Priscilla exclaimed, noticeably hyper from all the chocolate she had swiped from under the rug.

"Can you please take me with you? Your father is a complete maniac in the holidays…" Shinryu's small apparition begged, having been tucked into a… mole suit. The group was far too busy laughing to acknowledge his plight. "Do not laugh! He takes festivities far too seriously!"

"Far too seriously?!" Shin roared, leaping out of the kitchen and slamming his fist right atop the wyrm's head, instantly blitzing him grounded. "Grit those teeth Shinryu! We must relish in the peace we earned with our blood!" Shin was wearing the most over-the-top costume known to man. A long navy blue trenchoat with gold studs, grey jeans, no shirt at all, coupled with star-shaped glasses made him look like a maniac. But at least a cool looking maniac. "Kiddos, go out there, and have fun! Any rules I'd give you would just be made to be broken! Carve your own path and…" the bell rung and the kids left Shin to over-dramatize the hell out of the holiday on his own, so self-absorbed was he that he didn't even notice them leaving through the middle of his speech of heaven piercing or something. Terra had opened the door and wished them all the best, staying behind to deal with her husband. And maybe do some more.

* * *

" **Pris!** " Iris exclaimed, hopping from her position as soon as she saw her friend appearing, glomping her in the process. What she did not expect, was the sugar high Priscilla had entered. The small girl had quite a bit of strength due to her ancestry packed into those small muscles. Iris was barely able to hold on as Priscilla spun her around fast enough that her vision was nothing but a blur during the spin.

"Sorry Iris, I got ahead of myself!" Priscilla exclaimed just as she realized what she had done. Her eyes started to change and the flow of time shifted, causing Iris to immediately raise her hand and say:

"I'm okay…" even though she felt her dinner nearly reaching her mouth. She just didn't like to see Priscilla abuse her powers like that.

With that out of the way, Iris picked up her brown fedora (with cuts made to accommodate her ears) and put it back on. That, combined with her brown coat and pants and white shirt, and of course, her whip, made her a surprisingly well done Indiana Jones cosplayer. If there was any secret talent Iris had, was looking like someone else after all.

The group of teens quickly segregated into their own little groups while still banding together. Priscilla stayed with Iris, Fay, wearing a fortune teller's gown and assorted jewelry, went to Kefka for some attempt at small talk, even if she did not expect much of it, while Nimbus had quickly made sure Ceres would not scamper off on her own. The quietest of the neighbours was wearing a white robe garnished with a single red gem and a shawl in an ancient Grecian style.

Tina on the other hand…

"You… you dressed up as…" Tina said, still gasping for air at the sight of what Ciro had picked as his garments. Green tunic, green pointy hat, companion fairy. "Peter Pan?!" she managed to said after stabilizing a bit.

"I don't see what's so funny about it," Ciro said, crossing his arms and puffing out loud. Why did everyone find his costume so hilarious? Heck, even Min had refused to go out and be Tinkerbell with him. He was stuck with just Nim, which, let's face it, was the polar opposite of Tink.

"No… nothing. If anything, it's adorable how you're still in contact with your inner child!" Tina exclaimed, pulling Ciro under her headlock again. Due to the nature of Tina's costume, this disabled Ciro's mind for a while, at least until Ceres started talking.

"We're already late for that buffon's party. Are we going to attempt to be there or can I go home?" Ceres questioned, taking into the beaten path on her own without giving them any chance for an answer. Most of the group just shrugged off her attitude and took it as their sign to get going. They were getting too good at stalling anyway.

* * *

As they walked, they spied the town's decorations for the season. As the world rejuvenated, more and more effort had been put into these celebrations, and it had started to show now. Using the advanced technologies available to them, not only were the houses and streets decorated with the usual plethora of spooky adornments and pumpkins, but it wasn't rare to pass by a hologram or magical illusion of a monster roaming the city, some of them were even actual festive robots, although those were rarer for their slight danger.

"Anyone know why Gilg's suddenly throwing parties? For us even?" Iris asked after a few minutes of walking through town, often excitingly looking around at this year's new attractions or at particularly elaborate costumes.

"Who knows. I mean, he's rich, isn't he? Best chef in the world and what-not? Probably has nothing to do with the mad cash he's been getting," Nimbus said, shrugging at the question. She didn't really think much of it, as she was aware of what it was to have more money than to know what to do with it. Shin's eccentric vacation schedules had given her that vibe.

"I've been wondering that myself actually," Kefka said, everyone looking at him from the corner of their eyes.

"You care about stuff other science and Cuore's trials?" Priscilla asked, genuinely surprised, which made it all the worse really.

"I'd say obviously, but you all clearly don't think it is," Kefka replied, rolling his eyes at the response. "Anyway, no Iris, I don't know why, but I'd reckon someone else knows, considering how she's obviously been holding out for a while and is just now coming to say her piece," a moment of pause came upon the group as they tried to decipher the meaning of the line.

"It just so happens Gilgamesh is going through a midlife crisis," Tina did a double take at the voice. That was no one that belonged on their group, and she hadn't seen or heard anyone approach. The entire group but Kefka snapped to its centre to see who the unknown voice belonged to. "You look shocked. I suppose it is strange to even admit that Gilgamesh is on his midlife at all…" Cuore said, touching her lip and looking puzzled herself. Cuore's disguise was an intricate one top and bottom were short and very revealing. They were white and connected by crisscrossing, dark purple straps. They crossed above her cleavage and above her bellybutton. The straps continued to crisscross down her left leg. On her right leg was what could have been a blue gem of sorts, glowing brightly. Now, she didn't have sleeves with her top. No, these sleeves were all by themselves. They were also armored, with multiple colors consisting of pink, purple, and the same dark purple as the straps. Her gloves were gray with a stark white cuff on each. A necklace, or a collar would be better to call it, rested around her neck, a gem in its centre. She had always enjoyed meddling in stories on her free time, and apparently had found special interest in Milla Maxwell.

"It's not that… one, how did you find us? Two, how did you-"

"Sneak on you? My father's a ninja, my brother's a ninja. I'm programed to possibly be a ninja. Should be obvious," Cuore said, trampling over Tina's words quite effectively. "As I was saying, Father and Gilgamesh are often drinking partners, which is unsurprising for the worst reasons. At some point he divulged with my father about how Bartz's child had one day called him "Sir Gilgamesh" one day, and that broke him. The years of cooking for a living all came back at him, and he went into a complete training spree, entered Dragon's Neck Coliseum, won a seven tournaments while dodging his job as much as he could… but even then he was treated as they would an adult,"

"So he's just… trying to be 'hip with the kids'?" Tina asked with the added quotation marks for emphasis.

"That's a way to put it, yes," Cuore replied, giving way to a chuckle from the lightest hearted members of the team.

"How did you find us though? We were supposed to meet in the party itself," Kefka asked, to which Cuore pointed towards Kaze, who was, in himself, feeding a hawk that had perched on his shoulder. At first, he looked like he was simply wearing simple Eblanese ninja attire, just in violet, as he was no stranger to a mask or the gi, but the green overcoat and the headband covering his eye, which he revealed to be red when he took it off, meant that he did take the easy path and dress up as someone who had already taken a cue or two from his dad, Kakashi Hatake. The hawk strangely seemed disgruntled while he was eating, as if he didn't really want to take it. Seeing that he was being watched, Kaze turned to Kefka and just said:

"We arrived earlier than expected, and my sister insisted we'd spent our time finding your group, I summoned Madara here from Eblan to find you all. He did it in minutes too," Kaze explained, pointing at the also peculiarly dressed up Hawk. He just wore a simple, Samurai-ish red Armor, and a miniature headband to match it all, along with a pair of contact lenses to make his eyes look purple and circly. "Don't mind the outfit, Cuore forced me to make him fit the event, much to his dislike,"

"They were hardly a challenge to find. Now, send me back so I can get rid of these threads. I could barely fly in them," the Esperian bird spoke, not really shocking anyone, they had all seen at least Choby talk, if Kaze had summoned a bird from the Feymach, it was second nature for them to talk.

"You earned it so… "Kaze made a sign with his hand and closed his eyes, sending the hawk back to its home in a glimmer of light. "Shall we get going? It is already past the opening hour,"

No one in the group objected, and so their trek continued, far less eventful than before.

* * *

Before they knew it, they had reached the end of the city Mobliz and followed the directions the pamphlets Gilgamesh's agents had distributed at school contained, reaching the open air party location. It was open to entry for anyone, so there was not much in the way of bouncers, if anything, the security was there to keep order.

Gilgamesh had gone to great lengths to make sure this was a Halloween party, not just a party at Halloween. Not only were all the decorations of the tables what you'd expect from them, but the employees were all wearing their own, personalized costume, each of them spookier than the last. Not only that, but the magical illusions and holograms on the party were almost impossible to ignore, and even the music was, for the most part, fitting to the time.

As soon as the group reached the party, they all dispersed naturally, either to find their respective friends, or in specific cases, because Nimbus found Leo waiting for her at the entrance and they went to truly incarnate their characters before joining into the party. Ergo, fight. Pris on the other hand, had bolted to the tables, intent on trying every pumpkin flavoured dish in the festivity, and she was fully aware at how many there'd be.

When all was said and done, Tina and Ciro were the only ones left there with not really much to do. You see, Ciro and Tina were not a couple of loners, as much as Tina's persona would seem to scare people away, but their group of friends had all been unable to join the festivities, either by being sick, preferred to spend the time with their families, or they were on a trip to their family's home world to try out their version of Halloween.

This left Tina and Ciro to simply mingle in the party for the first hour of it. During the entire time they sampled the food, talked with acquaintances or admired some of the most intricate robots and/or employee disguises, Tina bid her time, who are we kidding, she didn't bide any time, she was simply too scared to suggest to Ciro they could try and dance to the music. Quite a few people were when the music selection landed on more sombre and danceable tones.

The problem was… Tina was not good with intimacy. For all her flashiness and apparent openness, it was all physical. She'd sooner let a complete stranger get away with a grope or two than she was able to open up to anyone when she was feeling down. She was shameless, not fearless.

If you didn't guess, no, she didn't ask him for a dance. It was only when the first hour rang and midnight was just an hour away that anything of note happened between the two of them, and this was ironically in the hands of Ciro's sister.

After a mere hour, Ceres had approached the pair with a disheartened expression. Clearly Nimbus leaving her in the dust had been part of it, but they weren't sure how much.

"Something wrong Sis?" Ciro questioned, Nim hovering over Ceres to get a better look at her.

"She's not hurt," the fairy assured, making Ciro even more clueless. He thought she may have had a bit too righteous for her own a good again, but no cigar.

"I don't really like it here. Too many people abusing the spiked pumpkin juice, and I'm not really a dancer. I thought Gilgamesh would actually give us something interesting to do, but apparently not," Ceres told the two, which did highlight strangeness to the party. It was… too normal. That being said, Tina, as if she were a tiger cornering a prey, jumped on a chance the moment she saw it.

"Aw Ceres, no need to be ashamed of the real problem here. Can't get a date?" Tina questioned, all the haughtiness she could muster turned up to eleven on her voice. Picking on Ceres was not only easy, it was her best way to handle frustration, and she was suffering from not little amount of it at the moment. Ceres' ice cold gaze had actually sent shivers down her spine. She knew she had pushed the right button.

"Unlike someone who throws herself on every guy she can get her claws on, I actually have standards, which have not been met yet anyway," Ceres snapped back, breaking eye contact with Tina and going back to Ciro.

"The difference is that, if you threw yourself onto them, they'd run away screaming," no sooner had Tina uttered the words, that she knew she had crossed the line with that. She just had no idea how much. She fully expected a fight to break out from it, but it was far, far worse. Ceres had simply frozen for a moment before looking into Tina's eyes with a look so dark, and, much to Tina's shock, so hateful and hurt. She then proceeded to turn her back to the two and stalked off into the crowd, ignoring Ciro's calls.

Tina just stood there, trying to process what happened. She had scarcely seen Ceres get emotional… much less from something she had said.

"Tina, this isn't something I can just let pass by," Ciro said, for once, his voice telling Tina he was not gonna take her shit. "Are you even aware of what you did?"

"I am. I was aware of it even as I said it…" Tina replied, not being able to meet the young man eye to eye. "I just didn't know how grave it'd be,"

"You don't get Ceres… heck, 'I' don't get Ceres, but unlike you, I'm not constantly pushing her to her limits, for fun of all things!" Ciro was angry, that was not a common occurrence, Tina's understanding of how much she had screwed up only grew. Ciro sighed: "Why do you do this Tina? Do you hate my sister so much?"

"I don't. I kinda like her, she has guts, but me and her just don't match, we always get into fights, so I just… derive pleasure from them? It's the best I could do. That and a lot of her actions do annoy me so that's more fuel to the fire," Tina explained, letting out someone that no one but Kefka was aware of. Most people did look at them as two people that just couldn't stand each other, and while this seemed the case with Ceres, Tina had never really felt like it. But she did play the part for an unhealthy sense of fun.

"Well, I'm going to go find Ceres, and when this party is over, regardless on if she has even cooled down by then, you're going to apologize. In front of me. Can you promise that?" Ciro demanded, stomping his foot just on the edge of Tina's downed field of view to force Tina to look him in the eyes. "Or aren't you sorry at all?"

"I am, I am! And as much as I dislike the idea of facing Ceres so soon after this, I made my own bed. I will apologize to her, I promise," Tina said with a secure nod. She knew she wasn't above consequences after all, no matter how she acted the opposite.

"Alright… I'll leave you off the hook for now. I'll be back when I can, don't expect this to be sooner than half an hour from now. Didn't you want to stalk… I mean watch over Priscilla?" Ciro questioned, Tina's eyes shooting right open as soon as she heard that. She had been too busy trying to get herself to ask for a dance that that somehow had evaded her mind.

Overly exaggerated thoughts of Priscilla getting kidnapped and having unspeakable things done to her haunted her every thought, and as such, she graced Ciro with little more than a scared nod before bolting into the crowd. Ciro sighed and shrugged.

Just why did he find her attractive again?

* * *

For as much as her nanny instincts had hit her, Tina was still on edge while looking for her sister. This was hardly ever a good thing, but she knew that if there was something or someone that could calm her, was a happy little sister like her.

It didn't take her long to find Priscilla. She'd only be at one place. The tables. Priscilla had inherited, like Tina, Terra's appetite… just on a whole different magnitude. Girl literally was a bottomless pit. No one in the family had ever seen her declare she was full, and they'd rather not spend the money to try and get her to do it. Luckily, when she found Priscilla, she was accompanied by Iris, the girl devoting more time playing the chaperone part, trying to distract her from the food with disguises or just people they had known in general.

The effect was ultimately slightly more than minimal, but hey, it was all-you-can-eat, Tina did not mind.

She decided to just head on to Priscilla and see how she was doing, halfway preoccupied, halfway trying to cool off, but a couple of people got there before her.

"Hey, that tail is real, right?!" a girl exclaimed, taking notice to Pris' tail wiggling as she ate food. Before any of the siblings or Iris could think otherwise, the onlooker squealed with joy. "Oh my gosh, a white tail, and you look like a dragon! Are you Priscilla Branford Verus?! I'm your mother's biggest fan!" This raised more than a few eyebrows on the people on the receiving end. "And you're awesome too! Look at your tail, soooo fluffy!"

Did Pris just get a… fangirl?

Well, Tina wasn't gonna complain, it certainly beat bullies, that being said, she did notice Pris was taking it a bit hard. She wasn't that used to physical interaction with other people, and the squealing girl was now touching her tail directly, something that was a really personal action for anyone with a brain to understand. As a result, she was squirming, barely articulating a phrase as it all happened. It only escalated from there.

"Hey everyone, get in here! I found a Verus!" the girl exclaimed, calling out for all of her friends, and others to hear. Then Tina realized that, while this town was in Mobliz, Gilgamesh throwing a party was a big thing… meaning there'd lots of people to which a chance at meeting Terra Branford in person was more than an appealing concept to not take advantage of the chance now.

"Is it Terra? Please tell me it's Terra!"

"I'd settle for one of her daughters, I heard they are hoot!"

"A Verus? Count me in!"

"Hehe! Pile on!"

"Can you get me an autograph, or better, can you call up your mom? Please?!"

It amazed Tina just how fast the mob had gathered. She had lost sight of Pris in seconds. And Pris hate hate hate hate hate hate HATED crowds!

"This is why I can't leave her out of my sight!" Tina exclaimed inwardly as to not gather up attention. It didn't work.

"Tiiiinaa baby! I knew I'd find you here!" she heard the clearly drunk voice of one of her prime… well, boot polishers would be a nice way to put it.

"Geoffrey, not the time!" she dismissed, not even sparing a glare as she tried to move into the crowd.

"Oh, but girl, it is the time! Music's blarin', eyes are glarin', and you are smokin'!" the teen that had taken far too many swigs pointed out. Normally, Tina would just ignore him and go about her way. But the guy was holding her by the hand.

Tina didn't like that kind of contact.

"Geoffrey, I'm warning you, if you don't let go I'll…" she threatened, still trying to find her sister through the crowd.

"As a man, I cannot let go of such a fine catch," how he articulated himself when his brain was basically mush; Tina didn't know. What she did hear, was Iris crying out for Priscilla. She didn't know why, but she heard Iris call her name.

"You have five seconds…" she told him, not even bothering to count. Her claws sprouted, she was not going to beat around the bush. Moments later, Geo had not let go… which prompted Tina to release a slashing motion onto his wrist. The sound of gears coming to a halt and immediately restarting came with an immediate change on Tina's point of view. Geo was still there, but on the ground, sitting up, his hand out of reach from her claw. Between them, was her own sister.

"When my big sister says no, it means no!" Priscilla growled, surprising even Tina. This wasn't the usual sweet girl that nibbled on sweets all day whilst playing with chocobo. Not that Tina cared about it, she was more worried about her mental health than anything.

"Pris, are you alright? I know you hate crowds," Tina asked, to which, when Priscilla turned to her, her expression was back to the soft and fragile one she knew and loved.

"I will be… I just need to lay low for a while." she explained, taking advantage of the confusion of everyone, considering she had just vanished from the midst of them. "Please, don't get into trouble for me, okay?" she asked, something that only made Tina feel all the more guilt for snapping. A wolf burst from the crowd and stopped by Pris and Tina, nudging Priscilla to do something. "I'll be back later Tina, I promise!" Priscilla exclaimed, hopping onto Iris, laying herself on her back as Iris began to run. "Go ask Ciro for a dance, I'm sure he'll like it!" she blared from the horizon as the mob sped past her, completely unaware she was just as much of a target as her sister.

"Huh, now there goes my big sister pride all in one go…" Tina mused to herself. Still, seeing Priscilla not only hold her own, but actually stop her from doing something really stupid filled her with determination. "Alright Pris, I'll make ya proud!"

* * *

And so she searched, and searched. It had been just about half an hour, she was pretty sure Ciro was back already. He always played it safe when it came to establishing an ETA, unlike her. She eventually found a familiar fairy floating around, conveniently dressed as Tinkerbell to make no mistake about it.

"Easier than expected," Tina commented, waving at the fairy to come to her. Nim, however, was… less than excited to see her. If anything, she was terrified. She started fidgeting in her place, crossing fingers as Tina approached her. "Hey Nim, where's Ciro? I gotta ask him about somethin',"

"Y-you may not want to see master right about now!" Nim exclaimed, trying her best to cover Tina's line of sight. That raised all kinds of red flags.

"Come on, it will be fun!" a distinct Eblanese accented _female_ voice was captured by her well-honed ears to be right behind the fairy. Not wanting to talk about it, she simply grabbed Nim, silencing her with her thumb in front of her mouth, and marched in that direction.

"I appreciate your offer, but I promised someone I'd meet them right about now!" Ciro's voice exclaimed in the distance, and then, she saw it, a girl, for all she cared she was just that, a girl, she could barely register her features, her eyesight was basically blacking out in pure hatred at the moment. Said girl was dragging Ciro, by his hand mind you, into the dancing crowd. Tina felt her skin crackle, but the memory of Pris' words stopped her from going too far. But she was not going to just sit there and take it. She threw the two men blocking her path to the side with one hand, and marched towards the duo faster than they could react. The girl and her met eyes for a brief moment, murder and gore being promised through Tina's glare. The girl froze under the pressure, just for long enough for Tina to get Ciro by the wrist, take flight, and end up landing on the edge of the event.

As soon as she landed, Tina, took a deep breath, and, as calmly as she could, asked:

"Ciro, what was happening over there?" Tina questioned, her tone telling Ciro to tread lightly. As confused as he was, the cracks on Tina's skin did warn him something bad had just happened.

"Oh Tina… well, I was looking for you," he began, scratching the back of his head, trying to put this in words that wouldn't drive him even deeper on the wedge. "And then this girl, Sakuya I think her name was, just well, came onto me. Not in the worst way mind you, she was rather charming, and pretty shy, probably took her lots of effort to…" Ciro quickly realized that praising the girl was not helping his case. As such, he stepped it up a notch and tried his best to get his thoughts out as fast as possible. "In short, we talked, she was nice enough, but I did promise to go and find you, so I politely asked her that I needed to go for a bit. She wanted a single dance before me going, and she wasn't taking no for an answer… and then you showed up and just flew me away! What was up with that by the way?"

"Me flying you away?" Tina asked, surprised that Ciro would ask something like that. Still, she was slightly calmer when she realized Ciro was being somewhat forced to go with the girl's wiles. That being said, she didn't really have an excuse. "W-Well, the girl is from Eblan! And I she was trying to steal something!"

"Really? I would never have guessed… but I guess that's the point of Kunoichi. What was she trying to steal? And how did you know?" Ciro asked, clearly not completely convinced, but wanting to hear Tina out. He did trust in her to some degree after all.

" _Don't say his heart, don't say his heart, don't say his heart, don-"_ Tina was a fuming mess by now, completely unable to even form a sentence. She was as red as tomato too which played to her advantage as it only gave her a bit more time while Ciro was surprised about it.

"She was trying to get your wallet. And I warned Tina about it," Kefka explained, suddenly appearing from the shadows. Tina looked at him, and was speechless. Was he really backing her up? "Before you ask, Kaze told me that it's a custom for Kunoichi to try and get some "field practice" when possible, and parties are the best way to scout for targets. Stealing the wallet of someone is often seen as the equivalent of having put yourself in a situation you'd have had him murdered, or had your target acquired from his body. It's also a better alternative than to ask them to sleep with their training partners," Kefka explained, shivers running down Tina's spine. "It's not a pleasant custom, but it's mostly harmless, the girls usually find the person after the party and give it back to the man. Tina probably just didn't like the idea of you having to go through that," Kefka told Tina, patting her on the shoulder and whispering into her ear:

"Kaze's working on Sakuya right now. On my request. I won't let you forget about this, sis," he told her with a devilish wink. She owed him so bad she shivered at the thought of how she would have to pay the debt.

"I… was totally played. Thanks Tina, I really didn't want to go back home empty-handed. Ceres would never let me hear the end of it," Ciro told Tina, smiling at her. He had been still angry at Tina for what she did to his sister, but this had served to at least somewhat tide the tides.

"Attention, young hip people! It is I! GILGAMESH! Greatest Host of All!" the booming voice of the Gilgster erupted from the speakers on stage. It really came as a surprise to no one he'd make an appearance.

"Alright, I knew this thing was too normal for something authored by Gilgamesh. Let's see what he pulls this time," Kefka commented, patting Tina in the back and nudging his head to the party grounds. "Care to check it out, _dear sister_?" Tina wanted to shut him up so bad, but… she really couldn't at this point. Not after what he had done for her.

"Midnight is finally approaching, the prime time for this time of gore, horror and general spookiness! I think it's about time I unveil the true attraction of this party. Gentlemen, behold! CORN!" Strange wording and announcement aside, the siblings and Ciro got closer to the stage to find that Gilgamesh was clearly incapable of costume design. One could only cram so many themes into a costume before it became ridiculous and impractical. Gilgamesh's main body had been dressed to mimic a skeleton, his head was now covered by a flaming Jack-O-Lantern, yes, flaming, I'll leave to figure out how he was still living, and not only that, but each of his eight arms was spoofing a different horror monster, from Dracula to the Werewolf. It didn't mesh at all… and that was perfect.

Now, for the details on the announcement. As soon as the "corn" had been announced, the stage lights focused on the northern end of the party grounds, illuminating various hedges of corn, grown to easily three times their normal size mind you, covered the seen expanse of fields.

"A corn maze? That's your surprise Gil? Laaaame!" Prishe shouted from the open air grill to the side. She had always helped Gilg with his crazy projects and today had been no different.

"Ah, but you see Prishe, it is in its simplicity that lies its ingenuity! This maze is no regular maze! It is a maze designed by "I" Gilgamesh! And it shall set the stage for the night's main event! For tonight, we race!" he exclaimed, Tina's smile growing wider. She was a sucker for competition. Well, less so for the actual competition and more so for the winning part. "The rules are as follows! You shall be grouped in groups of two, for it is in pairs that lie strength, isn't that right Enkidu?!" Gilgamesh exclaimed to the skies, his green demonic companion giving him a thumbs up.

"I call Ciro," Tina quickly said, rubbing Ciro's scalp excitedly.

"I'll go get Kaze…" Kefka retorted. Figures he'd want to compete against Cu, not with her.

The rumbling of the crowd was noticeable, as everyone scrambled to find their pairs. Gilgamesh waited for a bit, and, when it died down, he continued:

"Truly an honour to see you so eager! Very well, rule number two. You must not trespass through the corn, nor can you elevate your point of view to ignore it. Flying is strictly prohibited too my dear mages. Use your feet! Running builds character!" Tina sighed. There went the easy way out. She couldn't even fly! "Enkidu will survey the contestants from the sky. There is nowhere to hide! Thirdly, if you meet another pair… only one may pass. While the other pair has not been disqualified or given up, neither of you may proceed!"

"Now we're talkin'!" Nimbus yelled from the far right, so pumped was she Tina had no issues hearing her even past all the distance.

"That is it for rules! Your goal is simple! Rush to the centre of the Labyrinth and procure the Excalipoor! The one to hold the blade for more than ten seconds shall be deemed the winner!" half the crowd scratched their heads, unaware of what it was, but who knew of Gilg's troubled issue with the sword couldn't help but laugh. "As for prizes… well, the winning pair shall get a pair of tickets to an all you can eat buffet at my greatest restaurant, the El'Calibur!" Gilgamesh announced. Well, Tina knew who was going to try her luck at the maze now. The crowd was very much excited at the chance to win a prize that was worth easily over the millions of gil. El'Calibur was the world's most expensive gourmet cosine, and Gilgamesh's personal restaurant. Even Tina's mouth started watering at the thought of eating there… and then nearly bit her tongue off when she realized she'd be doing it with Ciro.

She had to win this. No matter the cost.

"Oh and by the way… if there are lethal accidents, well, just know I won't be held accountable for it! Kay? Thanks bye!" Gilgamesh exclaimed, quickly throwing down a smoke bomb and escaping the stage just before the pumpkins started to fly in his direction.

"I take it you're not shaken by that?" Ciro asked Tina rhetorically. While the entire crowd had hated the fact that the maze had become frankly a death cage, Tina only smiled more. More chances on winning was basically all that translated to her. "Why am I not surprised?"

"You are?" Tina asked Ciro, who, while it was clear in his expression, he was, he knew that that was not what he should be saying.

"After spending so much time with you, I've lived through worse," he told her before hiding his face as fast as he could before she could see the sweat beads running down his face as he did. He had managed to sound awesome, he couldn't let his looks betray his tongue.

"Good answer!" Nimbus exclaimed, literally patting Ciro into the ground. "So, Tina, ready for a beat down?! Literal or not, I'm not picky!" Nimbus exclaimed, hopping on her feet happily. Tina surveyed Leo to see if he would be at least trying to slow Nimbus down. Turns out, her boyfriend was already doing warm-up exercises quietly on the side.

"He's quieter, but by god he's just as bad as you Nim," Tina dismissed off handily. Nim smiled and gave her a resounding:

"Yup! That's why we date after all!" Nim exclaimed, jumping to go join him for his stretching. Tina heard a pair of footsteps approach them, and just by her instinct, she knew who it was.

"Can't really get between you and food, can I Pris?" Tina questioned her younger sister, who had just returned with Iris.

"You're letting us go just like that? I thought you were like a robot guardian for Pris or somethin'!" Iris exclaimed, a small dripple of saliva still uncleaned on her right cheek. It was obvious how Priscilla had convinced Iris into letting her go into danger.

"You of all people should know never to get between Priscilla and her food," Tina pointed out, pointing at the side of Iris' jaw in the process. "And stop thinking about the food you'll get if you win. I'm planning on taking Ciro out for dinner!" she proclaimed, biting her lip at the wording. Too late for regrets. With that, she just headed to the maze's entrance before anyone else caught on.

"Alright everyone, pick an entrance for yourselves," Ultros exclaimed, his slimy tentacles handing the miniscule amount of participants a pamphlet with a map for the entrances. Finally appearing in a story that has had VI as a very focused point, Ultros could not help but cry a single tear. "Not the most glamorous of debuts, but I'll take it!"

"Hey, Octoperv, me and my partner will take the northeast!" Ceres exclaimed, slamming her pamphlet back into the octopus' tentacle moments after.

"You're still feisty huh? Juts my kind of- Gaah I'm on fire! AGAIN! Why's it always fire magic?!" Ultros cried, sliding away into the nearby riverbank for confort. "Anyway ladies, and brawn brains… just tell Enkidu what entrance you'd like! He'll take you there. Once you're there, wait for the half-an-hour bell ring to start things of. I'll be here, chillin', relaxin', maybe shoot some b-bals considering I have no school?" By now, no one was really giving a crap about what Ultros was saying, instead, the participant were just informing the demon. Ceres was the first to go, Stratus being sacrificed to the still stewing maiden for partnership. Nim uttered a small sorry, she knew how her friend was when she was angry.

Next, Kaze and Kefka flew on, followed suit by Cuore and Fay, the one pair Tina was completely unafraid of. Finally, Priscilla and Iris took flight. Tina, always one to take the easy path, simply picked the entrance right in front of her. After a few minutes of idle talk with Ciro, the bell finally rang, signalling the start of the race.

"Try to keep up!" Tina told her friend as she began sprinting towards the entrance.

* * *

On the western entrance though, something fishy was happening.

"You're looking smug Kaze. That's not you, got something up your sleeve that I should know about?" Kefka asked the usually calm and gentlemanly prince. His usual expression had been replaced with a confident smirk for whatever reason.

"Well, remember the rules? They told us participants cannot fly," Kaze began, his hands twisting and forming a variety of ninja seals that Kefka had seen so many times before. By the time Kaze finished his formations, he clasped his hands together and reopened them immediately, from the empty space between them his trusty hawk appearing. "They never said anything about the ones that aren't participating, did they?"

"Kaze that's… incredibly out of character," Kefka said, less shocked than Kaze would expect someone that had known him for so long to be after such a reveal. Kaze did not seem the type to cheat at all.

"You don't really look surprised," Kaze iterated while at the same time expertly drawing a map of what would be their best path to the centre, at the instructions of Madara.

"You're a ninja. The fact that we haven't seen you cheat only proves you're good at it, not that you don't do it," Kefka pointed out, as if it was the easiest of things to read that on someone you were supposedly friends with. Kaze smiled beneath his mask, finishing the map mere moments later. "You really are a perfect match for my sister," Kaze said with a nod, thanking Madara for his help and sending him back.

"Yeah, right. I wish. Pity this won't be much of a match…" Kefka said with a sigh. This was the one kind of battle that Cuore's brain would not avail her. Still, he had reasons to want those tickets. He knew someone that needed them desperately. That and he didn't really want Tina to win.

"Time's wasting, and in this kind of match, it is our greatest resource. Ready for a swift victory?" Kaze asked, Kefka nodding in return. "Well then, ride the wind!"

And with that, the favourites departed, the few minutes head start they had given the others hardly mattering, at least in their minds.

* * *

The maze was really what you'd expect from a corn maze, although Gilgamesh had really put his all to make it feel as Halloween as possible, as there were no shortage of fake skeletons scattered about, cobwebs had already formed somehow in the corn, and of course, the path was littered with Jack-O-Lanterns. This did come in handy though, as Ciro and Tina traversed the labyrinth, with barely any, if at all recognition of where they were going. Eventually clouds covered the full moon above, stranding the pair in absolute darkness if not for the sombre lighting of the wayward pumpkins.

"You know, for how ridiculous it may sound, I never liked the dark…" Tina confessed, slowly moving closer to Ciro. Ciro knew of this, whenever Tina's family and hers did something like camping, Tina had always slept with her Chocobo, never able to leave the campfires at night without a partner. He didn't know what she had experienced to have that happen to her, but he didn't really care.

"Nim, can you cast Dia? It'd get some light in here," he told his fairy.

"Sure thing Master!" she exclaimed, cupping her hands and releasing a small continuous burst of light to illuminate the surroundings. Ciro turned to Tina, asking:

"Better Tina?" however, this would not be a time of peace, behind Tina Ciro saw something. Towering over the girl, a Skeleton clad in black Armor on its shoulders, arms and feet heaved a giant broken blade at the duo. Ciro did what he could and tried to chant an evocation, but he was quickly swatted back like a fly, hitting the ground hard.

"In this grand tournament, you live…" the Skeleton Knight began, sliding the claymore in Tina's direction with prejudice. As the slash completed though, there was nothing there.

"Or you die!" Tina completed as she soared above the skeleton with a single leap. Her hands crackled with electricity and she unloaded it all on the spooky scary skeleton, dispersing all of throughout the maze's floor.

"Tina, you okay?" Ciro questioned, making himself stand up by force.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. Something's only really scary when it's left to the imagination…" she commented.

Bones rattled, damaged parts of the Skeleton flew through the air, forming themselves just behind Ciro, far too fast for Tina to take action. Before she knew it, Ciro was in the same situation she had been in. Just far less prepared.

"Pay the iron price!" Or so it had seemed. The blade once again came down on its target with perfect accuracy, however, this time, it bounced back as a green barrier blocked its path.

"A bit too predictable there, took the necessary precautions ages ago," Ciro said, taunting a skeleton was not exactly how he expected to spend the night. The rest was up to Tina, and did she deliver. A withering gale swept past him, enveloping the Skeleton before transforming in a veritable tornado which flung the Knight away into the distance.

"Not agaaaaaaaaaain!" the skeleton shouted as it turned into a small star in the night's sky.

"Can't beat them, blow 'em!" Tina said, congratulating herself before patting Ciro on the back. "Good going fairy boy. You're getting better,"

"You keep getting me in trouble, kinda expected," Ciro pointed out, both of them, and Nim, sharing a healthy laugh. The clouds had cleared, leaving them to bask on the moon once more. "Shall we?"

"After you!"

* * *

"Well, this is awkward…" Nimbus said as she and her boyfriend met up with another group.

"It's like we attract each other, huh Nim?" Stratus replied, swiftly removing both of her compact blades from the side of her angel-robe. She didn't have much in the way of spooky at home. "That's mostly why I always keep these around,"

"You really know how to get me pumped up Strat!" Nimbus exclaimed, getting into combat position.

"Hey Ceres, way this out… I'll get them both of your back," Stratus promised. Ceres was suspicious, but she would at least let Stratus try her luck out before jumping in for the rescue.

"Well, I'll sit this one out for now then… don't go overboard Nimbus," Leo told his girlfriend, slouching back into the corn walls. The Esper girl clearly had either not heard him, or not cared about it. Why should she? Her whole shtick was going overboard at every available chance.

The two girls clashed on the centre of the corridor just like they had done so many times before. The next exchange of kicks, slices and punches went about like synchronized dancing, so well did the two know each other. However, Stratus knew something about Nim that while she may have been aware, she couldn't control. Nimbus tried to incarnate the people she admired, something that a night like Halloween only exacerbated.

You'd think this would help Stratus better dodge the incoming onslaught, right?

Wrong.

"Gotcha!" Nimbus exclaimed as she found a strange opening in Stratus defences. She quickly dashed in, delivering a straight uppercut to her friend's jaw. "Shinryuken!" she exclaimed, adding flames to her fist as she sent herself and Stratus into the skies in a spinning shower of embers. "Guess this means I win, huh?" Nimbus commented as she and Stratus flew high above the maze…just too slowly realize what she had just done. "Oh, you didn't!"

But Stratus had done it. There was still a smile on her own, scorched cheeks even after a punch of that magnitude. That was because, before Nim could try and cover her tracks, Enkidu was upon her, pointing at both her and Leo while holding up a "Disqualified!" sign, a-la Willy E. Coyotte.

Downside? Well, even with Nimbus grabbing onto Stratus and laying her down on the floor, she was not a sore looser after all, Stratus was… well, down for the count.

"Ceres… where you go, I cannot follow… go on, without me… blerg," Stratus told the brunet, dramatically enacting the most sappy death scene she could muster before losing consciousness for real. Ceres was still estranged by all these circumstances, but Nimbus made sure her loss was not in vain.

"Come on Ceres, you technically beat me! Don't let Tina win this one, she'll never let us hear the end of it!" Nimbus encouraged the girl, who, still pissed at what happened earlier, needed nothing else to make her bolt into the heart of the maze.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cuore and Fay spotted an opening in the hedges.

"Just as calculated, this should lead us to the center of the maze," Cuore confidently said, waltzing pats Fay to the moonlight stricken doorway in front of her. Fay could only sigh and shrug. She was used to this.

For you see, once Cuore emerged from the doorway, she was met with a surprise. It was the party grounds.

"Not… again…" she groaned, cursing her own sense of direction. Or lack of thereof.

"You really sure you wanna go on Cu? This is the third exit you find. In some ways, that's remarkable," Fayette pointed out, trying to quell the girl's misguided ego. But it refused.

"No. I will find the centre, if it takes me the entire night. Back into the labyrinth Fay, I will be beaten by no plant!" she stated, grabbing her friend's hand and dragging her in tow back to the labyrinth. Fay could just smile in pity but a bit of amusement at Cuore's predicament.

* * *

"Alright, I guess we're getting close to the centre," Ciro commented as he saw what lay in front of him. The edges had grown more and more far apart as they walked, leading them to a larger room, which they had assumed would be the end of it. It wasn't quite that.

"Yeah, I don't think they'd put something like this here for no reason at all…" Tina pointed out, looking down the giant chasm that lay in front of them. The wider hedges had only served to make the cross harder, as the only way across, besides flying, seemed to hop on onto the floating Jack-o-Lanterns in front of them, as they moved through the room from one side to the other horizontally. There were a total of five of these contraptions, five jumps they'd have to time exceptionally well, as they weren't exactly close to each other either. The entire obstacle was about 15 meters long, meaning that each jump would cover over 5 meters in itself.

Before worrying about any of it though, Tina got on the ground and smelled it. Frowning, she stood back up and smelled the air in the same way she had the ground. This search proved far more successful, as she identified familiar scents.

"Kefka and Kaze are past this. We just got to find a way to get across…" Tina said, starting to analyse the environment around them. Ciro couldn't help but question this.

"Hum, Tina, we just have to jump on these," Ciro said, pointing at the spaced out pumpkins. "I mean, it's pretty obvious what they want us to do, independent on how dangerous it may be,"

"True but… there must be another way…" Tina told him, biting her lower lip in the process.

"You're hiding something from me, aren't you?" Ciro stated, catching her red handed.

"Well, it's just that… I'm not really used to jumping. I fly so much I barely jump at all. I don't know how to calculate the jump strength to land on those things…" Tina confessed, her problem sounding so outlandish to Ciro that a part of him had wanted to laugh. But the other half knew that this was haunting Tina. In response to that, Ciro walked up to her, nudged her in the shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"Don't worry Tina. I'll go first, if you fall, I'll... well, I'll just catch you, okay?" Ciro assured her, making sure to sound as convincing as possible. Attempting these jumps seemed a bit crazy just for a pair of tickets, but the fact that Tina would never accept giving up, coupled with how if they failed Tina could bail them out by just flying made him have the necessary courage to try.

With that, Tina swallowed hard and nodded back to him. Ciro was first, and he took the chance to cast Haste on himself. Let's face it, Tina could fear jumping too far past the target, Ciro could not. He needed as much of a boost as he could. With that, the teen took a running jump and started the cross. Every jump became closer and closer to failure as he lost momentum, but fortunately luck did not leave him and he made it to the other side with just adrenaline to show for it. He had to admit, he was relieved the pumpkins were actually able to keep up with his weight.

"Your turn Tina!" he exclaimed, trying to stay as positive as he could for her. There was still fear in her eyes, but determination outweighed it. With a deep breath, Tina jumped her first jump. Turns out, her body was far more apt than what she had first imagined it to be, as in a single jump she had landed on the second Jack. She took this a hint to let her built up stress go and leapt again. How did she regret it?

She passed over the third pumpkin, and the fourth, and even the fifth. Without any restraint it, she had made an almost leap over the dark abyss.

Keyword, almost.

Tina soon realized she had bitten off more than she could chew as her body began to go downwards at a faster rate than horizontally while she neared the edge of the pit. She reached out with her hand, barely scrapping the ground. She would have fallen down, if Ciro had not been so on point in grabbing onto her hand with both of his. Then, without any hesitation, the teenager pulled her unto sound soil.

"Wow Ciro… I didn't think I'd actually have keep that promise," Tina said as she tried to call herself from the near fall.

"Yeah well… I didn't expect you to jump that far, so we're even… You're surprisingly light too," Ciro told her, shocked that he had been able to pull a girl of Tina's size up that easily.

"Most girls would take that as a compliment, but I'm more than half mana Ciro, of course I'm lighter than one'd expect," Tina pointed out, standing back up and offering her hand to Ciro. "But thanks anyway," she said as she helped him up. "Let's finish this,"

"Right there with you!" Ciro replied, both of them mustering their remaining strength and dashing towards the unknown. Quickly they realized that at the end of the corridor was an opening. All of Tina's senses told her that it was there that her brother was. Part of her wondered if they were too late and he had already won. But, she captured another smell. A strange one… but not one she could not identify.

As soon as they passed the corn arch, they found themselves assailed by strange flying object, one that Tina quickly snatched and laid against her chest.

"Quite the predicament you seem to be in, heh, Bro?" She taunted at Kefka's exhausted figure before letting him fall down onto the ground nonchalantly.

"Just shut up and help us out here," Kefka spat back, looking at where he had flown. Kaze soon appeared by the group's side, visibly damaged throughout his costume.

Just as Tina expected, picking up the Excalipoor wouldn't be as simple as reaching the centre of the labyrinth. They had one final obstacle. And it was the most obvious of them all.

"Aha! What is this? Yet another speedy pair? I had thought to dispose of the first two before you had come, but you have left me in quite the predicament now!" Gilgamesh exclaimed, his six arms all yielding Halloween themed blades, except for one arm, his upper left one, that one yielding the not-so-Legendary Excalipoor. "Oh what the heck, all of you, come at me! The one to hold the Excalipoor for ten seconds shall be the winner!"

"Does this make us allies or…?" Tina asked Kefka, who just shrugged.

"As long as you watch you back and remember your debt," Kefka replied with a snide smile. Tina cringed, but she knew she had no real way out at this point.

"Less talking, more slicing!" the six-armed swordsman blared, Jumping into the centre of the group like a true Dragoon. All managed to safely dodged just before the attack hit, though they were left wide open in the process, all but Kaze at least, who had vanished from sight. "Overwhelming force!" exclaimed Gilgamesh, creating a twister around him with his blades, scattering the mismatched party. Suddenly however, he felt a force pulling on the Excalipoor. Looking up, he saw Kaze flying by him, pulling on a chain wrapped around the blade. "Not so fast!" he exclaimed, counter pulling on the chain.

Kaze was quickly brought down, Gilgamesh was far stronger than most humans, even trained ninjas. However, he did not come down easily. Making signs with his hands, by the time he found himself in front of Gilgamesh, he was ready.

"Hyoton!" the Eblanese Ninjutsu took effect immediately, freezing what was right in front of Kaze. Which, fortunately, were Gilgamesh's legs. Just before hitting the ground, Kaze vanished, leaving only an afterimage behind.

"Argh! What is this? They didn't tell me ninjas were mages too! I'll have a word with the artists about this!" Gilgamesh shouted before sensing something approaching from behind. Fortunately, his octo-arm-ness meant he was able to slash at almost any direction, and so, he was able to counter Tina's lunging assault from behind, managing to bring a sword straight into the now-tranced girl's torso. Fortunately, green light protected her from any injury, even if the blade still pushed her back. "Oh don't think I forgot about you fairy boy! Rocket Punch!" Gilgamesh chanted, shooting three pairs of… giant boxing gloves from his free fists. Blue Magic can be weird at times.

Regardless, it can also be effective.

"Oh fruit baskets!" Ciro's last words in this challenge were, the fists all made impact, leaving him entangled in corn and seeing fat chocobos.

"Aha! One down! Now for the other th- Huh? Who turned off the lights?" Gilgamesh suddenly saw his field of view shrink to merely a small tunnel of light, unable to see anything past the length of his arms.

"I did!" Kefka exclaimed, swiping his Enhancer at Gilgamesh's Excalipoor. The blow connected, however, it did not hand enough strength to blast the weapon of the man's hand, meaning Kefka needed to retreat ASAP.

"Thanks for giving away your positioning! Tsubamegaeshi!" Kefka gulped as Gilgamesh started to randomly slice the terrain in front of him, and while he was able to dodge some of the blows, one of them caught him by the side of the neck, luckily, it had only been the flat of the blade, so instead of becoming the Headless Horseman, he would just have neck pains for the next couple of days.

"You know, it's pretty obvious you won't just let that sword go so…" Gilgamesh's sight slowly returned as the one afflicting blindness on him had lost consciousness, and he turned to see Tina gathering the biggest quantity of thunder mana she could muster. "Before Kefka wakes up to claim it, I'll just beat it out of you! Thundaga Burst!" putting her all into that one ball of lightning, she hurled it at the self-proclaimed master swordsman. Seeing Death stare at him so intently, what else would Gilgamesh do but break the laws of logic?

"If you want to bring out the big guns, I'll do it… literally!" he proclaimed, jumping into the air and conjuring a comically oversized missile. "FIRE!" the missile's engines erupted and catapulted itself into the oncoming attack, blinding everyone with the explosion coming from it as both attacks negated themselves. "Great job kitten, but how will you deal with the second one?!"

"Second on-"famous last words from Tina. A couple of seconds and an explosion later, she had found a comfortable spot halfway into the ground.

"Alright. Only one more to go! Now, where is that boy?" Gilgamesh asked himself, surveying the room. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me…" he cried out as he saw what he had done.

"Thank you for the alone time Gilgamesh… I'm sure Ixion appreciates being summoned once in a while!" Kaze taunted as the horse of thunder rode around him, clouds of thunder gathering up above due to his influence. "Now, catch this, will you? Raiton…" Ixion neighed and flew upwards, merging with the weather as Kaze did one, final mudra sign. "Kirin!" with the chanting and charging having been finished before even Gilgamesh looked at him, the red swordsman could only cry inwardly as a giant horse made of thunder emerged from the clouds, galloping throughout the air and impacting against him almost immediately, causing a large scale explosion.

"My only regret… was never visiting Eblan…" Gilgamesh said, his charred husk laying on a giant crater of his own making in a sense. Seeing that, Kaze slowly approached the fallen swordsman, appearing to be the last man standing. Gilgamesh was unmoving, by all accounts Kaze looked to be the victor. That is, until he reached for Excalipoor. " **Fell for it**!" the fallen swordsman's eyes suddenly shot open and took to the skies, hitting Kaze heavily on the way with the Excalipoor. Which ultimately meant he did one point of damage to him.

"Ah yes, this is the feeling! The feeling I missed for so long! The flame of youth!" Gilgamesh cried out, tears streaming out of his eye sockets, the monster rapid casting shell, protect and haste on himself. "With my morphin' time completed, it's time for phase two of this ba-"

"One more word from that hellish mouth, and I cut off your head. Now, drop 'em!" Ceres threatened, every word sounding as real as it could get. Real enough to make her opponent let go of all his weapons on the spot. A blade made of thin glimmering ice had made itself known, resting just before Gilgamesh's neck. "Alright, now… the Excalipoor please,"

"No fair! You can't sneak in in the middle of my sp-"Gilgamesh felt the ice blade touch his neck, sending chills down his spine. "Fine! You win! It's in the pile!" he exclaimed, much to Tina's chagrin. She had just gotten up, and it was just enough to have Ceres' smile cut all the deeper.

However… out of all the swords Gilg had dropped, the Excalipoor was not one them.

"You think I'm kidding?!" Ceres threatened, faking a swipe at Gilgamesh's neck, who was by now trembling all over.

"No! You got it all wrong! It just… vanished!" Gilgamesh swore, in a way that while Ceres couldn't really see a lie, she felt it had to be one.

"He's not lying you know?" a final voice spoke in that challenge. Standing at one of the unused entrances, Priscilla held the blue version of Excalibur on her hands, both her and Iris smilling wildly.

"And ten! We won!" Iris exclaimed, hugging her best friend out of joy. Tina, Kaze, Gil and Ceres all dropped their weapons, fell to their knees and just mouthed:

"How…?" they all said. Faced with that question, the white haired girl didn't have a problem with enlightening them.

"Well, I just rode Iris here faster than anyone else, but I knew that I couldn't snatch Gilgamesh's sword away, not even with my magic, while he had a firm grip on it. So, me and Iris just hid ourselves in the corn and waited. The moment you ambushed him Ceres, he let go of all his swords, so I just used my powers to grab it!" Priscilla explained, puffing her chest out in a rare display of outward pride. Ceres grumbled heavily unable to let go of her frustration, even though Priscilla and Iris had _technically_ played by the rules. Just not in the most honourable of ways.

While the two younger girls just hopped around excitedly while they told Gilgamesh what they wanted to have for that dinner, Tina approached Ceres.

"They got us good, huh?" she asked her rival, getting little to no response, verbally or otherwise. "Look, Ceres, I know you're still mad about that but… well, I'm sorry. I went way over the edge. I don't really mean half the things I say, you know that, right?" Tina tried her best to be honest and approachable, but alas, no cigar. Ceres didn't even acknowledge her existence.

"Sis, don't be rude. Tina's actually apologizing to you, at least acknowledge it. You don't need to accept it," Ciro told his sister, still sore from the giant boxing gloves, but otherwise functional.

"She only apologized cause you made her. I don't see why I should care," Ceres told her brother before taking her leave.

"That's Ceres for you…" Ciro told his best friend, trying to quell Tina's sadness. "Hey, don't be so down, she'll come around to it!"

"It's not that. I kinda expected having to wait for her to calm down to get any results," Tina answered, Ciro's questioning look prompting her to continue. "It's just that, well, I kinda told promised you I'd win and then we could share the tickets on Gil's restaurant. I don't hate my sister for winning, but I'm bummed out I missed a promise like that…"

"Oh, that's it?" Ciro asked, scratching the back of his head. "Well, we can still go to Prishe's. It's not as expensive on Mobliz, and I can afford a three star restaurant for now. Think of it as a consolation prize!"

Unable to quite process what Ciro meant with the request, Tina swallowed back any shame and simply nodded, being too red and flustered to talk.

As Priscilla and Iris called on Ciro and Tina to join them, Kefka and Kaze for a photo of the runner-up's to the prize, Tina couldn't help but think this was a good night. Not a bad way to spend Halloween at all!

* * *

 **Post-Chapter Note:** Yeah, this was a very slow, down to earth special. Not exactly what I usually do, but I did think these people needed more intergroup interactions, and some realistic events in their lives. A party where they all attended just seemed to be a cool choice. I hope this shed some light on the characters a bit more, and overall, was an enjoyable read. In any case, tell me what you thought of it in the box bellow! Sayonara, next time it WILL be the Crystal Tower!


	5. The Golden Ticket

**Author's Note:** I'll be honest people. The reason I wrote this chapter is pretty selfish. I wasn't having that much fun with writting when I did this, felt like I was constrained by the flow of the stories I had created. And part of it was showing in how I wrote. This is my "vacation" chapter. I have no idea where half of it came from, just from a hidden corner of my mind, but honestly, it was fun to write, and I needed that. Hope it's at least half as fun to you as it was to me.

* * *

 **An Unfinished Scrapbook**

 **The Fifth Picture**

 **The Golden Ticket**

* * *

Shin quickly made its way back to the house he was staying in. He didn't like thinking it as his house, not yet. It had barely been a month ever since he had been offered a stay in Mobliz, in Terra's house no less. He felt more like a freeloader than an owner.

In any case, the reconstruction of Mobliz was doing rather fine for the state the world was in, good enough that he found it possible to find some time for themselves. He clasped the pair of tickets he had gone to pick up and opened the door.

"Terra, I got them!" Shin exclaimed, entering the partially emptied house. They had sent the kids off to be at Celes' knowing that today they'd be out the entire day, maybe even the night, Shin didn't really want to be constrained about coming back to the orphans, just this once.

With that being said, he was surprised to find Terra nowhere in sight, not even a response came to greet him. He headed towards the kitchen, wondering if she had simply been preparing something to eat on the go.

His efforts were met with less than positive results, as the kitchen was as drab and dark as the rest of the house. A faint worry haunted him. Nothing should be threatening them, not after all they had been through, but this was unlike Terra. Had she left without him?

"Terra! Can you hear me?!" He exclaimed, his cries answered with silence. And then, wood cringed. Shin's honed instincts quickly tracked it, just to his left. Faint sparkles of violet hovered across the exit to the kitchen, however, there were no steps to be heard. Shin took action immediately, jumping towards his lead, and yet again climbing the stairway in a single jump. He was there just in time to see a door snapping shut. The door to his and Terra's room.

He was confused, but he didn't question anything, he'd get an answer soon enough. He forced the door open, it wasn't even locked. Someone had been in a hurry.

He looked into the dark room, and saw the culprit, uselessly hiding on one of the corners of the room.

"Terra… are you alright?" Shin questioned, genuinely concerned, unable to understand what would have lead Terra to do this.

"Do I… look alright?" Terra sobbed, looking back at Shin, tears brimming on eyes. To Shin, besides the tears, she did. Her problem didn't even register in his brain.

"You look hurt but…"

"Shin, I'm an Esper," Terra pointed out before he could say anymore. Shin was a bit taken aback. He had acknowledged that the moment he had opened the room, it was kinda why it was so easy for him to find her. Can't really hide in a dark room when you glow. But he didn't understand what the problem had been, Terra had long come to terms with herself… hadn't she?

"Is this about who you are? Look, Terra, it doesn't ma-"

"Shin, please, you think I'm that weak? I'm fine with what I am, that's not the problem here!" Terra interrupted again, anger, the kind of anger Shin knew came from stress, flowed out in her words. It didn't anger him, it just confused him. He wondered what her problem was, before slowly coming to a conclusion.

"Terra, you can't be serious…" Shin began, kneeling in front of her. "What's making you so agitated?" somethings could never be changed. Terra's Esper form had one trigger, emotions. The raw nervousness and stress in her voice had been a clear tell of why she was morphed now, and why she was not turning back.

She was a nervous wreck.

"L-Leo got sick today. Celes called in to warn me. She didn't know what it was, I immediately offered to go there, but she had already gotten a doctor to come to her place. It wasn't anything serious he said, but she couldn't quite say what it was. She told me to enjoy myself for the day, that I had been too overworked, and deserved a day off. I tried, but… the moment I looked into a mirror, I was my Esper self," she began, clutching her knees and biting the bottom of her lip. "I kept calling Celes, I wanted to leave, but she forbade me. She trusted the doctor. Turns out, it was barely anything serious. Just a common cold he had hidden to keep on playing that hard worsened. I was relieved, but…"

Shin understood her immediately. For as much as they wanted to play it off, it had not even been half a year ever since events that had maybe done more to scar her then her entire childhood.

"I… can't forget when I wasn't there for them. I know it's stupid. I know that I can't always be with my babies, but… I couldn't forget the one time I couldn't be there for them…"by now, Shin had slowly embraced her. These panic attacks weren't uncommon. And they weren't even tied to Terra alone. He too suffered from them more than he would like when alone. "I was able to hold it back though. Regain my composure. But I was still shaken enough that I couldn't change back. Then I remembered what day it was. Where we're supposed to be today, and I got even more nervous. I can't be in front of all those people as an Esper! The more I thought about not changing back in time, the worse I got. This was our one special day Shin, and I was, no, I am ruining it!" Shin kept cradling his beloved, trying his best to be her pillar, but while he did, he looked at his tickets, pondering what the best course of action would be. The safe path would be to just stay at home, console Terra, share an evening drowning out old sorrows.

But that was not what they needed.

"Terra, do you trust me?" Shin asked, looking at his lover straight into her violet eyes. Terra didn't speak, but her gaze was all the acknowledgement he needed. "Then go get ready, we're leaving as soon as I can get Stardust saddled up,"

"Shin, no!" she screamed, her latent magic pushing him back against the bed. "I cannot just show up like this. There will be hundreds… thousands of people there!"

"I know Terra, and that's exactly why we need to go," he told her, slowly holding onto her hand. "Trust me Terra… you will understand when we get there,"

"Shin I… this is too much," she told him, diverting her gaze for a moment. A pregnant silence filled the room as both of them tested each other's conviction. Seeing as Shin would not take anything back, Terra closed her eyes, and nodded. "Just tell me why."

"It's my best shot at making you truly be at peace," Shin told her, clasping her hand. She understood that not even he was sure of what he wanted to come from this, but there was a sense of earnestness in his voice. He truly felt this would help her, and for her, that was enough.

"I will try. But-"

"If the going gets rough, feel free to just wisp away. You got some perks from birth, didn't you?" he told her smiling, kissing her lightly on the lips and standing upright. "Now dry up those tears, I'll be readying Stardust," he told her, leaving the room, leaving the tickets behind.

Terra took those tickets, taking a deep breath before interiorizing it all. Her ticket read:

"The Gabbiani Gold Saucer Grand Reopening. VIP Guest, Terra Branford." She mouthed out loud. "I hope you are sure about his Shin, Lenneth knows I'm not…"

* * *

Just a couple of hours later, the couple neared their destiny. The Gold Saucer was a healthy amount of distance away from Mobliz, but if there had been something they had taken from the endless fighting that had been their lives, is that they were now able to get anywhere they wanted faster than mere fast. Especially Terra, who, in her Esper Form, was clearly slowing down to let her Chocobo keep up with her.

"Any reason why you brought Stardust Shin? I think we can handle our flight on our own," Terra pointed out, fully aware that Shin was not "flight deficient".

"Flying's not a natural thing for me Terra, I didn't have the privilege to be born with the skies at my grasp," he poked, trying to make light of the situation. He instead got a royally deserved beak to the top of the head.

"If you want to trade, I don't mind," Terra said with a large humph to capitalize her position. "It's really more trouble than it's worth," she said as she flew ahead of the duo. Shin sighed at his failed attempt and looked at Stardust, the female Chocobo looking back with a look that simply asked him if he even expected that to work.

"Your mother's pretty hard to read Star, give me a break," Shin told the bird, heading to his destination in silence.

Soon after, the unmistakeable pillar in the desert appeared in the distance, airships from all over the worlds hovering towards it. A giant cactuar-shaped building held up all four domes of the Gold Saucer, each shining in their own coloured spectacle of lights. Only the one just by its left arm was opened to the outside, serving as the Aerodrome for the entire structure. It didn't hold any ship though, Setzer's ships would simply cycle in at certain times to pick up the people that wanted to leave. Regardless of it, the skies around the Saucer were navigation hell, the rush of the first day was as real as it could get. The fact that it was free for that day only just made it worse.

Weaving easily between the ships, Shin finally found Terra, hovering just above the entrance to the giant amusement park, hand over her chest and a not-so-hidden fear over her expression.

"Thanks for waiting Terra. Wouldn't be easy finding you in there," Shin said as she arrived by her.

"Shin I-" she began, already shaking her head. Shin would have none of it.

"Just try, alright? I'll hold your hand through it all," not this soon. He wouldn't have Terra live with anymore burdens. Once again, his voice pushed Terra just a tiny bit more in the direction he wished she'd take, and she accepted.

"Lead the way then," she told him, expecting Shin to know where to head in now.

He didn't.

"Well… I'm as new to this as you are so…" he began, scratching the back of his head. Terra took her hand to her face, cursing herself for expecting any more from her boyfriend. When it came to remembering the most mundane, he was worse than she was. With that being said, he was also surprisingly good at slithering out of bad situations. "Look, over there! Those are the Turks right? Let's just ask 'em!" before Terra could say anything more, Shin made a mad sprint to towards the group of men and women in black, in fact, Stardust was going so fast, that the landing was less than adequate. It was a miracle that she had been able to stop before running over the completely unaware Reno.

"And here I thought I was over the whole can die at any moment shtick!" Reno commented, legs still trembling from how close he was to reaching pancake status. Stardust was not a small Chocobo by any means, nor was it going anything close to slow. Her talons marks left a large line of destruction in her attempt to brake in time.

"Sorry about that Reno," Shin apologized, hopping off his mount as Terra landed beside him.

"Phew, someone is dressed to impress, huh?" Reno joked, patting Rude on the back as he laughed at his own joke. Pity no one else was laughing. Confused, he continued: "Well, not exactly dress, but you get what I-"

"I am sorry for my associate Miss Branford," Reno said, straightening his tie, picking up the now unconscious Reno and carrying him off. "I wish you two the best of stays,"

"Huh… Rude really came into his own," Shin told Terra, receiving no answer.

"You know, I don't think Reno was actually joking. He just has a really hard time with words. In a way, you do impress." Cissnei commented, taking the tickets from a couple as they passed into the Gold Saucer. "I know how trivial it is, but tickets please,"

"Wait, you Turks are taking… tickets?" Shin snorted, trying to hold back his laughter as much as he could. Cissnei was hardly affected, taking both of their tickets and marking them as used.

"Rufus has a lot of resources. Manpower is not one of them. If we want the world to be able to rest, we can't do it ourselves," Cissnei explained, going back to taking tickets from everyone else. "In any case, have fun you two. If anyone deserves it, it's both of you. Oh, and don't worry about your mount, Elena knows what to do with it," Cissnei said, shooting a snide wink at the duo. This confused Terra, however, she was aware that if the female Turk wanted to be cryptic, there was no way to get what she meant out of her.

"Well, shall we?" Shin said, prompting the two to head into the building. Terra, still unsure, hesitated.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer," a very familiar voice said from behind Terra. She turned, coming face to face with the new owner of the Gold Saucer.

"Setzer!" Terra exclaimed, giving him a quick hug. It was the first she had seen of him ever since she had moved to Mobliz.

"Now now Terra, your man doesn't deserve the game you are playing right now," Setzer joked, patting her on the head before turning towards Shin and giving the young man his hand to shake. "Would you mind a guide?"

"Why would we?" Shin replied, unaffected by Terra's show of affection. He was past it… for the most part.

"Then, I'll be the lead," the gambler suggested, taking the forefront. As they walked, Terra's hand never left Shin's, not only that, but the girl had shrunk into the back of her boyfriend, trying her best to avoid any eye-contact with any of the guests. Shin knew that if Terra continued on like this, their date would be a sour note in their relationship, and he couldn't let that happen.

"So, Setzer, how did you manage to get this ball rolling? Seems like a strange place to get Rufus to spend his money on. World was recently wrecked and all," Shin asked, trying to get a conversation flowing.

"Didn't Cissnei tell you?" Setzer asked, combing his flowing hair with his hand. "Our world needs to be rebuilt, yes, but the same way a tired pilot can never make his ship fly, we can't keep moving forward without the will or energy to do it,"

"You mean… the Saucer was made to get people some reprieve?" Terra asked, finally leaving her boyfriend's shadow.

"While we may be at peace right now, I don't think it's easy to forget what the world went through. Rufus thought the same. He offered me his resources if I offered him my… experience with casinos. Of course, he forced me to cut on the gambling, at least until the world's back on its feet, but the pleasure is in the game, not the earnings. Not much of value was lost," Setzer answered, stopping to pick up a map from a passing attendant. "We are here, at the centre of the Saucer. We haven't had the time to make much more than this, so, for now, the map should take you anywhere you wish. If you are heading for the Chocobo Stadium however, there is the elevator," the owner of the Saucer told them, giving Terra the scroll. "I would give you a personal tour, but that would defeat the purpose of a date, wouldn't you agree?"

"I… well… yes…" Terra gagged, her cheeks lighting beneath her violet fur.

"Good. Remember you two, for today only, your lives are but a chip in the pile. Ante up!" the gambler said, vanishing into the crowd.

Not wanting to lose momentum, Shin took the map, gave it a good look around, and told Terra:

"Let's get to the counter and get some GGP first. Then we can decide where to use it at, alright?" he asked Terra, slightly amused that Setzer really had put his first name so ingrained on the new gold saucer that Gold Saucer Points had become Gabbiani Gold Saucer Points.

The two headed towards the counter, where they encountered a… familiar face.

"Afternoon Ultros," Terra said with a smile at the octopus just as he finished talking to another customer. "Coliseum can't pay for the bills?" The octopus nearly jumped from the counter once he came face to face with Terra.

"I-I've done nothing wrong! Don't roast me, please!" he pleaded, his eyes filled with fear as he remembered the last time Terra tranced in front of him.

"Don't worry Ultros, I didn't come here looking like this by choice," Terra said, not-so-subtle giggling at the octopus' response. She didn't really blame him for being afraid, she had been a bit too harsh on the guy last time they fought.

"Oh…I see. Then I must refuse Terra," Ultros replied, turning its back on the couple and crossing his multiple tentacles. The two just sat in silence, confused. "I cannot allow myself to be seduced by you, not with your boytoy around. I have some standards!"

"Then why is your back tentacle creeping on her ankle already?" Shin asked, his eye twitching. He didn't want to make a scene, but the mollusc was asking for it.

"Look, I'm sorry! But your girlfriend just showed up in front of me butt na-"it was by this time that Terra finally remembered why she had been harsh to Ultros in the first place. She proceeded to unceremoniously set every tentacle in her vicinity on fire. "Ow, ow, ow! I'm too young to be a gourmet dish!" Ultros cried, rushing from counter into a nearby fountain.

"Our GGP Ultros, please," Terra said with the fakest smile she could muster. It was honestly more terrifying for Ultros to see those fangs bearing down on him in a smile than a scowl. That meant she was this close to snapping.

"Geez woman, talk about mixed messages… it's on the drawer… take whatever you want, see if I care!" Ultros shouted, submerging, no doubt readying himself to creep on more women.

"Welp, this should last us for the day," Shin said, pulling out a bag not that much larger than the usual customers picked up. He had some pride after all. Taking Terra's hand, the two started their journey through the Gold Saucer.

* * *

The closest attraction was the Triple Triad Square, a hobby that both of them had picked up recently as a way to relax with a quick game before going back to work. With this in consideration, Terra and Shin agreed on heading there first.

Once they arrived, they took a moment to take in the amount of tables and people playing that there were. It was a daunting prospect that all of this had been rebuilt in a mere month. Shin could even spot a few familiar faces. However, something else took his attention. Terra's grip had slowly tightened while they walked through the glamorous hallways.

"Something the matter princess?" he asked her gently. He noticed her gaze was on the floor once again. Looking around, he understood why.

"Everyone is staring Shin. I can live with crowds but…" Terra began, shaking her head and pursing her lips. Shin began to doubt this had been a good idea, but he was in too deep to not give it the good ol' college try.

"Like it or not Terra, we're kinda famous. It's no wonder people stop to take a look," Shin retorted, giving the evil eye to the people staring, which caused them to slightly disperse.

"They aren't looking at us Shin. They are staring. At me," Terra told him, staring him right in the eyes. "I'm not gullible Shin, we've been over this," truth be told, Shin was always taken aback by how sharp Terra would be in deducing anyone's lies or attempts to diverge a conversation. It was probably due to her childhood, but it didn't feel in character for someone as sweet at her.

"Alright, alright, it's true. But you can't just assume they are thinking bad things about you. You saved the world twice, and this is a rare side of you. I'd stare too!" Shin exclaimed, smiling as he pointed at himself in the goofiest way possible. A small smile cracked on Terra's expression, the Esper girl slowly nodding.

"I suppose. I'm still not that comfortable though," she explained. A small silence settled between the two, just enough to bury the conversation. As soon as Shin turned to walk though, he saw something in the distance.

"Terra, just take a seat, play some games, I don't know. I'll be right back!" he blared, already halfway across the room. Terra reached out to him at first, but then proceeded to sigh.

"That was really insensitive Shin…" she muttered under breath, a bit hurt. What could possibly demand this much attention of him? "I wonder if I should play some Triad," she looked onto an empty table, took a step in its direction, then she remembered. Looking at her clawed hand, she shook her head, heading to a nearby bench. She sat there for a few minutes, absentmindedly looking through her Triple Triad collection, for the first time truly considering just casting Teleport and leaving, the feeling of being stared at had not diminished in the slightest.

That is, until she saw a pair of feet came into her field of view. She looked up, and saw a little boy holding a stack of cards, staring up at her with the most innocent look she had gotten from a stranger ever since she landed on Mobliz.

"You're Terra, aren't you?" he asked her with a smile. The woman in question smiled back out of instinct, her motherly side shining through.

"Yes I am… something the matter?" she asked him, estranged about why the child had approached her.

"Can I pleaaaaase play a game with you? You don't look too busy!" he asked, holding up his deck towards her. Terra just couldn't say no to those eyes. She nodded back, took his hand and headed towards a nearby empty table.

During the ensuing duel, all of Terra's worries mellowed out. For the first time since she had gotten here, her gaze was not meeting anyone else's, it was just her, her cards, and the boy in front of her. Truth be told, if she had tried to, she'd have been able to read into his hand every time he tried to make a play, he was just so brimming with energy. There was something magical about the simplicity of him, of this entire game.

It didn't matter to her whether she lost or won the multiple times the two had played each other, the very fact that a complete stranger had come to her and asked something as simple as to play a card game with her in her current state, without any concerns other than the game, it was the kind of pleasure she had only dreamed of. She hated to admit it, but Shin leaving her stranded had done much more good than bad.

"Aha, what about now Miss?!" the boy exclaimed after amassing an impressive board. His cards were 6 to Terra's one. However, the boy had dug its own grave. Terra smiled as she plopped down a card picturing her own father.

"Papa's card captures your top and right cards to flip, and since we're playing Combo and those were your strongest cards… I flip the whole board!" she exclaimed, only then realized just how into it she had become.

"Wow miss… I didn't expect you to be such a pro!" the boy exclaimed heartily, picking up his cards from the table.

"It's just practice, me and my boyfriend play this on lunch breaks between construction," she explained. Moments later, a middle aged woman rushed to the table.

"Tyro! I've been looking everywhere for you!" she exclaimed, hugging what Terra could only imagine being her child. The mother then looked at Terra with a look of shock, that would have hurt Terra, if the woman had not bowed immediately afterwards. "I apologize deeply for the inconvenience Miss Branford. We're from Figaro and we know what you've done, you shouldn't have had to-"

"Your son did something very special for me. Don't apologize," Terra said, walking up to the woman and gently pushing her up into a standing position. She looked at the woman in the eye. She was clearly unnerved, and while Terra didn't know if it was because of what had happened, her identity, or her form, it for some reason didn't matter to her. The woman had been sincere to her, that was all she needed to know.

"I don't really understand what happened, but I had a lot of fun today miss!" the boy exclaimed. Terra smiled back at him, knelt down and hugged him gently.

"I had a lot of fun too Tyro. If you ever pass by Mobliz, don't forget to pay a visit," she told him, patting him on the head before leaving the kid to go back to his parents, who waved back at her warmly, their expressions now calmer after interacting with Terra.

"You're as popular as ever with the kids, aren't you?" Shin's said, his voice coming from behind Terra.

"Wish I was half as liked by my boyfriend. Maybe then I wouldn't have to resort to little kids to take my head of problems," Terra replied, crossing her arms and not even turning towards Shin. The nervous laugh from Shin at least showed he knew he had screwed up.

"Look, Terra, I know it was a bit sudden but there was just one last spot to sign in and I wanted this to be somewhat of a surprise…" he explained, gaining her attention. She turned to meet him and was immediately flooded by a sentiment she could not resist. She squealed and hugged the large doll Shin was presenting her with.

"A Stilkzin plush? How did you come by one of these?!" she asked, giggling like a little girl as she caressed the rare moogle plush.

"They were being offered to the winner of a Triple Triad tournament here, it was a small one, only had eight players, so I thought it'd be worth a shot. I left you behind mostly because I wanted to see this face," he told her, poking her on her cheeks. Terra had already forgiven him, he could see it in her expression. He wondered if his gambit was paying off already. "What were you doing to pass the time?" he asked her.

"Well…" Terra explained the past half an hour to Shin, who could not be happier at the result of it all.

"See Terra, people's attitude towards you is the same, regardless of how you look!" he exclaimed, passing his hand through Terra's flowing Esper fur, just as she loved it.

"I wouldn't say that but… there are still people that accept me, that's for sure. More than the ones I expected," Terra conceded, calmly stroking her new doll. The moment was interrupted by a strange occurrence.

"How could I lose at Triple Triad?! It's the one thing I can do well not related to smashing!" the echoing cries of Zell echoed through the halls.

"Shut up Zell you're embarrassing us…" Squall said, begrudgingly pushing his friend out of the Triple Triad wing before trading looks with Terra. He raised his hand in acknowledgment at girl. "See you two at the races," he told them before being forced to push the bawling grown up man along.

"Well…that was strange. I take it he was in the tournament?" Terra asked Shin, receiving a nod back.

"He was my last opponent. Think he wanted to impress some girl or something," Shin dismissed, Terra laughing it out, pulling him down by the shoulder and whispering to his ear.

"You're not much better…" she said, skipping along forward, leaving a fumbling Shin behind.

"At least I'm good at it!" he exclaimed, running to catch up to her.

"Debatable…" she teased, stopping at the edge of the Triple Triad Square. "Where to now? The Chocobo Racing Square?" she asked Shin. She wasn't daft, Shin had the half-annoying half-sweet tendency to prepare surprises for her, and Squall had just spilled the beans on something, even if she didn't know exactly what it was.

"Yup, got a couple of tickets for both of us already. We still have an hour until the race, but we should get ready anyway!" Shin replied, grabbing onto her free hand and walking by her side.

Terra sighed to herself at how Shin didn't take the hint of "just tell me already", but it was a Shin thing, and she appreciated it, in retrospective at least. She decided to just wait it out and enjoy the moment there. This time around, as they walked, she felt no need to run or hide behind Shin, even though she was the target of as many, or more, stares than before. Holding hands with the person she loved worked in her favour, but the meeting with Tyro had reminded her that not all of those stares were malevolent.

With that being said, her body still didn't budge, she could not morph back. She still felt far away from that state of complete calm and acceptance she needed to offset a forced transformation. Some of them had lasted for days, weeks even if we count her first one. She knew the reason. Her unrest was still dwindling inside of her. Every once in awhile, she spotted it. A stare of pure disgust or hatred. She didn't know how to cope with that.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking and a ride up the giant Cactuar through the elevator, they emerged at the stadium dome. Terra was shocked at the scale of it all. She had known that Chocobo Racing had always been the main attraction of the saucer, but the stadium they were walking towards was easily the size of Dragon's Neck Coliseum. The technology of the other worlds still baffled her time to time, to make such a huge structure stand so high.

Her first hint at what was about to happen came with where Shin began taking her. They passed by the ticket sellers, which she thought it was fine, he had probably gotten the tickets already, but, they passed by the line to enter the Stadium too.

"Did you get us some VIP tickets?" Terra questioned, that being the one thing she thought Shin had done. He smiled at her, that devilish smile that he shot at her every time he was so smug about what he had prepared for her.

"Something of the sort," he told her as they reached another entrance.

"Miss Branford and Sir Verus I presume?" the clerk questioned, Terra and Shin nodding in return, showing her their tickets. "You may go in. You will find your Chocobo at the end of the tunnel, after the changing room where you may want to change clothing. We appreciate you taking the time to be here for our opening celebration," the clerk told them letting them inside.

"Chocobo? Shin, you did not…" Terra told her boyfriend.

"Terra! Didn't expect to see you here!" another voice called, the duo turned to see Bartz running towards them, waving frantically.

"Honestly Bartz, I didn't expect to see me here either. You're participating in the opening race, right?" she asked the Wanderer, receiving a swift nod.

"Of course. Lenna's already inside tending to Boko, I just needed a drink. Which of the two of you is the jock?" he asked, looking at Terra for an answer she did not have.

"She is, I'm just there to prepare Stardust for the race," he told her, dodging a claw he knew was coming for him right after.

"You should've warned me about this!" Terra hissed, stalking towards backpedalling Shin.

"You'd never have come if I had told you about it at home!" he exclaimed, jumping over a Firaga spell that went on to hit Zell in the background.

"That's not an excuse! What makes you think I'm in the mindset to participate in a Chocobo Race in front of thousands?!" she blared, anger welling up inside of her again. Was Shin this disconnected from her feelings? First the abandonment, now this.

"Terra, please, I asked you to trust me…" Shin staggered, trying to stand his ground even in the face of certain disgrace.

"Shin, no! You can't just ask me to do this. I could barely walk into the Saucer today," she told him. She had had enough with this. She had a breaking point, Shin had just jumped over it and asked her to come with him.

"Alright," she did a double take and looked at Shin, wondering if she heard it well. "I understand where you're coming from Terra. I underestimated how much this bothered you. If you are so affected by the idea, I'll do the race for you. It's why I got us both tickets," he told her, waving his tickets at her. "Oh and Terra… sorry for doing this on our date," he told her after walking past her, going into the tunnel and leaving her behind.

"Terra, he's just trying to help you," Bartz explained, trying to mend the bridge that he had just seen breaking apart.

"I know Bartz. I just can't do it," she told him, following in Shin's tracks.

* * *

By the time she had reached the changing room, she was just in time to see Shin exit for the stables. With no strength to face him, she found the closest seat and took it.

She quietly reflected about what had just happened. It was clear Shin was trying to tell her something. Something more poignant than that she was accepted by some people. For the life of her though, she had no idea what. What would lead him to set this all up?

"Pardon me, are you Terra Branford?" a voice she did not recognize asked. She raised her head to find what could only be someone from Zidane's world. For a moment, she gave the person in front of her the look she so hated to receive, seeing an anthropomorphic giant rat dressed in red was strange, even on her standards. She quickly corrected her stance, nodding back at the woman. "Finally I have found you. Zidane just would not stop to speak of you. Where are my manners though? My name is Freya, Freya Crescent," she told Terra, extending her hand. Terra took it and shook it, taking note of just how similar her hand was to Freya's. Maybe she could help her.

"If you don't mind me asking, why were you looking for me?" she asked the Burmecian. The dragoon smiled and took a small bow.

"Why, to thank you of course. It always pained me to be unable to be of any help for most of your conflicts. For saving our worlds, you have my deepest gratitude," she told Terra, who could see it in her eyes that a massive load had been removed from her shoulders. She knew the pain of staying behind and having friends fight your battles for you, she had done so once for her kids, even if she decided to join in later.

"While I wouldn't ask this of you, I appreciate the thought. Don't martyr yourself for it," she told her, knowing that Freya needed was acknowledgement, not some humble act from Terra.

"That means a lot to me. With that being said, it is easy for me to see that something troubles you. Is there anything I may do to help?" the dragoon questioned, having read through Terra as a book. "Before you ask, Zidane tries to bottle up his problems a lot too. I've become accustomed to force them out,"

"How do you deal with the… looks?" Terra questioned after a few moments of pondering whether she could or not. Freya raised an eyebrow, trying to make sense of why Terra would ask that. "I… I can't morph back from Trance," Terra explained.

"Ah, that would be an issue. Truth be told, I am not the best person to ask this, as in our world, there was no such thing as a strange look, your normal looks were our closest thing to strange. With that being said, I can't say I have not gotten some estranged and somewhat hateful looks ever since the dawn of this new one," Freya said, passing her hand through the lower part of her snout in a pensive way. "If I had any advice for you Terra, is that you should take things as they come. The more you overthink what those gazes mean, the more they will consume you. Given time, they are likely to vanish, especially taking in consideration the fact that a world like mine's is now a part of this planet,"

Just then, the voice of the announcer began called out Freya's name.

"Oh, I apologize, but I have to present my Chocobo for inspection. I hope this will not be our last meeting. I wish you the very best Terra," she said, quickly shuffling through the door and jumping the moment she left the room.

"Not overthink it… that's an easy thing to say," Terra commented, staring at a nearby mirror. It wasn't just how she looked…

"Tell me about it," Cloud's voice echoed through the changing room. Terra looked to the side and saw the now actual SOLDIER leave from a nearby cubicle on his bike riding gear.

"You were listening?" Terra questioned, the Chocobo headed person shrugging immediately in response.

"Casually overheard it," he replied while he polished his goggles. "Was just getting ready for the race. I see your date isn't going as well as planned,"

"How do you know all of this?" Terra asked again. She didn't want to believe Shin had gone so low as to send someone else to do the talking, but she had to ask.

"Just assumed. Saw you two pass by in the distance once or twice," he explained, finally looking at Terra in the eyes. "I know how you feel,"

"Everyone assumes that. So far, all those have been are empty promises," the Half-Esper snapped back, frustration heavy in her voice. She was tired of the false promise of someone who understood her plight. "Even Shin doesn't understand how I feel right now. I'm-"

"It's not about how you look Terra. I know that, Shin knows that, and I'm pretty sure it's probably dawned on you too," Cloud pointed out, relentlessly cutting off any try Terra had at disposing of it. "Your trance's looks only brings attention to what you are truly afraid people will not understand. Or worse to the things you are afraid they won't forgive,"

"I-I… that's true," Terra replied, shaking her head and looking back at her clawed hands. She subconsciously had blamed her looks for her stress, but that had been simply a distraction for much worse issues she had with the world around her. "People like Freya look different too, but none of them are… alone. I am an anomaly, an anomaly with the blood of millions on her hands,"

"That's why you avoid crowds in general. I've been there. There was a reason why I isolated myself from the world after stopping Meteor," Cloud replied, raising the arm where he once held Geostigma. "I had my own brand back in that time. Being what looked like a former SOLDIER didn't make things any better, what with Shinra's reputation and all," Terra slowly nodded in return. "Now that you believe me, here's my words of advice. First, let people help you. Shin was a mess when he passed by the changing room. Chances are, considering you're here, he tried to get you into the race, right?"

"How do you know?" Terra asked.

"Would you have gotten over a fight over anything else?" he pointed out. She knew he made a good point. "Second. Everyone has enemies Terra. Don't ever expect everyone to accept you or like you. Bartz has some enemies in the Tycoon nobility now that he's engaged to Lenna. Bartz. The most normal and amicable guy in our group. People give you the evil eye more than they do to others because they know about you, that simple,"

"I know, but it's still hard for me to disconnect from that. What if they do something to my children? Or to the people I love? I can't shake those feelings off every time I feel one of those stares… how do you do it Cloud?" she asked her friend from another world. A rare occurrence followed. Cloud… smiled. As Terra was taken aback by it, Cloud slipped on his riding googles, his name being called by the announcer.

"I got over myself," he replied, leaving the Narshean Princess confounded. "Somethings you just can't teach. If you want to know how I handle it, give your boyfriend another shot," he told her, heading for the entrance. Opening the door, he stole one last look of Terra, leaving her with just a couple more words. "See you on the track,"

"Getting over oneself… I am not full of myself, am I?" Terra asked herself, looking at the mirror one more time. "I don't understand what they want of me… but I can't continue ignoring everyone's advice! I trust them," Biting her tongue, she felt herself being filled with determination. Shin had put their relationship on the line by asking her to do this race. She had come to terms with it. The least she could do is honour his request.

She opened the door and made her way through the stables. She didn't know if her name had been called already, or if Shin had, but it didn't matter. No more doubts. She was going to see this through. She was tired of crying in a corner, if there was a light at the end of the tunnel, she was going to find it. She found her boyfriend talking to the announcer, likely explaining the switch, a stroke of good luck at least.

"Shin, leave it be," she told him, the half-dragon young man turning to see a face that incited relief on his broken down expression. "I was being an idiot. I'll go through with it,"

"Well, we'll have to kiss and make up later then… cause you're up," Shin told her, seeing as the announcer had taken this as a sign that Terra was up and ready to go. Terra took the time she had to give Shin a quick, but powerful hug, whispering how sorry she was onto his ear. Flying past all the contestants, she landed on her favourite Chocobo, being greeted heartily. She was… nervous to say the least.

"Good thing you came," Bartz told her from the side, smiling at her. "Always wanted to see how Boko would fare against that crazy bird!" seeing she was flanked by Cloud and Bartz made her feel slightly better. Friends always did.

"Let's go Stardust. There's something I need to find out," she told her bird. The countdown to the race's beginning began ticking down. Her heart beat more than twice per number. Fear crept up her back, only to be held back by a single look she took of Shin. Before she knew it, the gong had been rang.

Stardust erupted from the start of the lane, blitzing past every bird but Boko. Cloud's black Fenrir tailing them from the side. But that was not what Terra was worried about. As she looked around, she gazed into the roaring crowd, and then, it dawned.

To them, she was just one of the racers. On that moment, sure, she may have some more eyes on her by her looks or relevance, but she was no different from the other racers. It was with this feeling, this liberating feeling of insignificance, that she understood what Cloud meant. What Shin had been trying to teach her.

At that moment, she was a raindrop falling into the ocean.

* * *

The race had long finished. Terra sat in a bench, drinking a refrigerated drink to quench the thirst she had accumulated through the day, only enhanced by the dirt kicked up by the Chocobo. She was satisfied with the results. She was not in there for the win, she had gained something far more important.

Shin approached her bench, a piece of grilled corn in each of his hands. Sitting by her side, he handed her the treat, which Terra happily took. The couple then exchanged a pair of estranged gazes, both wanting to tell something to the other, but none of them working up the guts to do it first. Terra took a single bite of the corn.

"Shin, I have a lot to apologize for… I should have trusted you more," she told her boyfriend, slowly inching towards him.

"And I should've been more honest about what I was trying to do…" Shin replied, putting his hand over Terra's free hand. "I didn't know what to do… so I avoided confronting you until the last moment. It wouldn't have gone so badly if I had come clean from the beginning," Shin admitted, squeezing Terra's hand.

"That may be true… but I don't want you to beat yourself over it. What we're going through is not something simple. I think we should allow ourselves to make mistakes," the pink haired girl told him. "I finally understood what you wanted me to learn though. It's unreasonable of me to think I'll ever be accepted by everyone, but it's just as bad to think that means I am out of place in the world. The war is over. We're not on the vanguard of the world. We're specks of sand in a beach. Maybe we're of a different colour… but we're part of a whole now,"

"I'm glad you understood that. We are so used to thinking about the entire world, that it's hard to go back and simply live our own lives. Just let the days pass by, and be yourself. If that makes you happy, if that gives you a home to return to and if you keep being an honest, good person, I think things will sort themselves out," Shin said, having already lived through this very same crisis not long ago. "It's like Setzer said, ironically,"

"We're but chips in the pile," Terra said, looking at the Gold Saucer in a new light. What first felt like a prison, where all would stare at her, judge her, was now a large wonderland where everyone was doing their best to forget the tragedies of the past. Something she desperately needed to do. "Shin… allow me to ante-up,"

Shin turned his head, ready to ask Terra what she had meant, when a pair of gentle hands pulled him in into a long, passionate kiss. He was shocked, it was uncharacteristic of Terra to show this much affection in front of so many people, but he couldn't help but reciprocate the moment with her. It did not last long, but Shin could feel all the gratefulness of the girl he loved through that kiss, just as she had felt the effort he had tried to hide from her.

"For all your flaws, I can't help but adore how much you try to make things the best for everyone else…" Terra whispered in his ear moments after breaking the kiss. It was then when Shin's eyes opened, that he was greeted not with the violet Esper, but with the blonde petite woman he spent most of his days with.

"Terra, you're… back to normal!" he exclaimed, pulling her into a hug out of sheer joy. Terra smiled, even chuckled, as she explained:

"I've been ready to turn back ever since the race… but I wanted to do it at just the right time," she told him, caressing his cheek. "It was worth it, if only to see your face,"

They stayed in there for a few more minutes, before they felt like they were being a bit too melodramatic in public. It didn't affect Terra half as much as before, however, there'd be time for lovey dovey things at home.

"Well then, princess, shall we actually go out on a date?" Shin asked, taking the first step by getting up from the bench.

"Alright, but, this time, I take the lead," Terra said, winking as she waved the map of the Saucer she had snatched from Shin. Said boyfriend could only nod as his girl decided on how they would spend the rest of their day together.

It was a rather uneventful afternoon after that, which for all effects and purposes only made it better for the couple. Nothing made Terra more ecstatic than small things like actually waiting in line like a normal person, be one of many couples trying their luck at escaping Typhon's Snorts in a hilariously over the top game of red light green light, climbing all the way to the top of the Wonder Square's GATE, even the surprised faces on the kids that saw a girl they knew nothing about destroy the Gilgamesh power hitting attracting on accident. For the latter half, they even got together with her old friends that were in the race for a good Triple Triad friendly bash, neither Terra or Shin were victorious, but seeing Lenna of all people trump everyone was enough to put a grin on everyone's faces.

* * *

Eventually, the time for closing was upon them, with the Saucer closing its doors for the next month, to open again for another day of relaxation from the hardships of the new world. While Terra and Shin knew the next day would be back to the usual order of business, they reached their home with a smile on their cheeks, a new picture of everyone that they met on the Gold Saucer posing with them as the centrepiece, much to Terra's embarrassment, and just a few pained muscles.

"Aren't the kids home at all?" Terra asked, once she got her heels out of her feet, noticing how the house was eerily quiet.

"I arranged for them to stay at Celes for the night," Shin replied as he headed down to the dining room, Terra following suite.

"Thank Lenneth… I love them all, but I need a break from them every once in awhile," Terra said, stretching her limbs while pecking Shin's cheek. "You really are a treat to live with when you want to be,"

"What do you mean, when you want to be?!"

"You're lazy and more prone to disaster than everyone in the house combined. As cute as I find your attempts at fixing what you do sometimes, you're usually more trouble than you're worth," Terra said, being fully aware she had just pressed all of Shin's buttons.

"Alright, you stay here, I'm going to make it up to you!" Shin exclaimed, directing himself to the kitchen.

"Oh no you don't. After what you did today, I'm not leaving you to cook up another crazy plan. What are we doing today?!" she asked, forcing herself onto Shin's personal space and winking. She had seldom felt this free, and she'd be lying if she didn't enjoy every bit of it.

"I was going to bake you a cake," Shin admitted, already having taken a dozen of eggs from their refrigerator, one of the few pieces of technology allowed in Mobliz during reconstruction. Moments later, he only heard:

"Catch!" as the flour bag hit him straight in the face.

"What was that for Terra?" he asked, half-outraged half confused. What he saw, was something that if he was told he'd ever see a year ago, he'd have laughed. Terra with a grin that couldn't even be fully described as naughty, already ready with another round of flour.

"C'mon Shin, keep up! My kitchen, my rules!" she exclaimed, throwing it at her boyfriend. Shin managed to do so, taking time to throw Terra his eggs in the process. Terra managed to grab four of the six, but the last two landed straight on her chest and loosened blonde hair. "Oh, that's how you want to do things?"

"You're the one that started it. Better be able to take what you can dish out," and with that, they tried to get to their own, demented version of a baking session. They both knew it wasn't going to work out, but every time Shin felt a giant geyser of water course down his face because he had asked a mage for a bit of water, every time Terra got dough pasted all over her face for asking Shin to throw her the dough, which he responded in a literal sense, more and more of their pent up stress would vanish to the winds.

The normal collected Terra and the amicable and lazy Shin were gone. They were alone, and they were free. By the time they stopped indulging in the chaos of their own making, the kitchen was completely impossible to recognize… and so were each other.

"We… really did it now…" Shin said, still heaving from the impromptu food fight he had just shared with his lover.

"I… didn't think I had it in me… but I feel so much better now," Terra replied, beaming Shin a smile like no other she had done before.

"I don't know what looks like more of a mess. The kitchen, or us," Shin mused, looking at a mirror to try and find out where his face began and where the dough covering ended.

"I look like a mess Shin? I thought you said you loved how I looked… no matter how much I changed," Shin heard Terra purr, in ways he never expected her to, but then again, that seemed to be the treat of the day. He saw Terra approaching from behind him on the mirror, her form slowly regaining the pink coloration of her Esper form. Soon, just as she lay her head on his shoulder, she said: "Care to put that to the test?" she asked, flipping him to face her before tackling him to the ground in a heart stopping kiss. Neither of them had a clue of what had lead them to act like this, but neither of the two cared.

For the rest of the evening, they were each other's.

* * *

 **Post-Chapter Note:** So yeah, this was supposed to be a small date chapter. It evolved into a somewhat of a character study with fluffy interactions through it. I have no idea how the ending came about though. Terra has this inherent wild side to her hidden beneath that properness and shyness that I just cannot control. And it is glorious. Cogratulations Terra, you don't even exist, but you forced me to alter an ending to something I never expected coming from you. And I'll be damned if it wasn't fun!

I'll see you on my next serious project. "Vacation" time is over!


	6. A Crystalit Promise

**Author's Note:** Just as I took a vacation, so is Jade taking one of his own. I do hope this doesn't start a chain reaction, but if it does, what the hell, even writters need a break sometimes! It's near Christmas, just relax people. In any case, onto our author here.

 **TUH:** What was your motivation to write this one-shot?

 **Jade:** You know damn well why I wrote this one shot.

 **TUH:** Did it make the itch go away?

 **Jade:** Made it worse.

 **TUH:** Keep on fighting the good fight. Just don't get too crazy with it.

 **Jade:** How would I get crazy?

 **TUH:** You know how. Just roll the chapter.

* * *

 **An Unfinished Scrapbook**

 **The Sixth Picture**

 **A Crystalit Promise**

* * *

 **November 15th, 20 P.R.**

Standing in the living room Ciro finished getting ready to head out for dinner with Tina. He had promised to take her out to Prishe's on Halloween after losing the match to Iris and Pris. It'd been an impulse on his part he readily admitted now. She'd been down when they'd lost and he'd wanted to fix that and offered the first thing that came to his mind. Right now he was buttoning up his new simple black blazer over a white shirt. Both his Mom and Rin had told him that he could go with something a little more original than basic black but he wasn't that adventurous and the only reason he even bothered with getting one was because he was heading out to a _nice_ restaurant.

"Honestly Master, I leave you alone for one night and you go and do this." Min chided as she hovered around Ciro. "What possessed you, dear sister that you let our young master fall into the clutches of that kitten?"

"They had fun though! And Master was able to hold his own in the fight," Nim defended herself from her spot on Ciro's shoulder.

"And I can make my own decisions Min," Ciro added as he once more straightened his tie. "Even the ones I don't always think through. Prishe's place is more spendy than I thought when I did a little research on it. I've hung around Tina often enough, and while she doesn't have Pris' appetite, she puts my family combined to shame."

"Think I might be able to help with that," Sol stepped in. If you looked at father and son there was no denying that Ciro was fathered by Sol, the only difference between the two was their hair colour and height. While Ciro was a golden blonde, Sol's hair was brown bordering on black. Whereas Ciro had yet to crack six feet, Sol stood a whole eight inches over that mark.

"It's alright Dad, Mom already thought of that." Reaching into the inner pocket of his blazer Ciro produced his wallet. The wind had been taken right out of Sol's sails with that simple line, once more his wife had beaten him to making sure that their kids were taken care of.

"So when are you heading out?" Sol asked with a father's curiosity as to what his child was up to.

"Here shortly, our reservations are for seven and it'll only take a short while on Starlight to reach Prishe's." Nim and Min started to fly towards the door, expecting that Ciro was heading out now. "Wait, you two don't think you're coming along do you?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Nim asked innocently while she floated in front of the door. Her sister on the other hand knew exactly why and was giving Ciro a look that told him she was coming even if she had to fly the entire way on her own.

"You'll need protection in case anything goes wrong," the implications in Min's voice was not that Ciro would be in any physical danger, but that there was something more that he'd need to be protected from. "When have you visited a place of class? Do you know what is expected of a person when they head into a place that has earned the prestige this restaurant has? I fear Master that your parents haven't taught you the social etiquette that this place would demand of you and that you'd make a fool of yourself. If you look the fool, then so do my sister and I."

Sol, who was still in the room, didn't look the least bit offended at Min's words. He had not once bothered to teach Ciro what it was like to be in any place of high standing. Had Luna been there she certainly would have protested as she tried to make sure that her kids learned everything she had thought they might need, even if she wasn't the one to offer the advice needed.

"Min, I'm going alone. You and Tina don't get along, you two are almost as bad as her and Ceres. I told Tina that I'd take her out to dinner as a consolation prize since we lost to Iris and Pris, I kinda want it to be something she'd enjoy and honesty Min….. I don't think it'd be great if you came along. I don't think it'd be too much trouble to bring Nim, but taking her and not you wouldn't be fair, so you're both staying home."

"Master I implore that you take Nim if you're so adamant about leaving me behind. Do not worry about my feelings on the matter, we are here to protect you and I would feel much better if you at least had one of us accompanying you."

"But sister, I don't know any more than Master when it comes to how to behave." As oblivious as Ciro to Min's ulterior motive, Nim admitted that she was equally lacking. The glare that Min gave her twin was one that should have killed it was so intense.

Ciro headed towards the door letting his fairy summons bicker about what they were going to do. With a quick wave goodbye to his dad, Ciro ducked out the door, the sound of it closing alerted both the Espers to what had just happened. Both flew to the door and started pounding on it in a vain attempt to get Ciro, or even Sol, to open it and let them out.

* * *

Being neighbours with Tina was convenient when Ciro wanted to hang out with her. It wasn't odd for him to randomly head over to her house and see if she was up to anything. He had made the walk over to her house numerous times but this time as he walked over, he felt that there was something different about it and it wasn't just because he was wearing a new pair of shoes.

Reaching the door Ciro found that he was nervous. It was just dawning on him that he was going to a fancy restaurant, with Tina, alone. By all rights this could be construed as a date. He tried to tell himself that he'd do this for Nimbus or any one of his friends but quickly realized that it wasn't true, the thought would never had crossed his mind.

"Been waiting for you Ciro," Nimbus appeared from behind him startling the teen. "Where's your dynamic duo?"

"Gods Nimbus, warn a guy before you scare the life out of him." Ciro had spun around to face Nimbus who was in her training garb, having clearly just come from another round of her workout. "And yeah, Nim and Min aren't exactly happy about it but they're sitting at home. Min's probably trying to figure out she's going to make my life hell when I get back home."

"Braving the wrath of a tiny fairy for my sister, you truly are a man Ciro." Nimbus teased. Patting Ciro on the back and almost knocking him down. If he wasn't used to such a welcome from the Esper girl he wouldn't have quickly gotten a Protect off when she'd first announced herself and been able to stay standing. "Good work with that Protect."

"Hey, Min can be downright evil." It was weak, the truth, but weak when Ciro thought about it. By all rights he was the one in charge of Min, she even addressed him as Master much to his dismay, so he shouldn't be afraid of his own partner.

Nimbus ignored his defence and opened the door, leading Ciro into the house. Immediately Ciro felt the nervousness that had left when he was talking with Nimbus. This oddly didn't feel like the house he visited on a whim, this felt like a domain of a large creature that would just as soon strike him down as blink. Something about this place had changed. Like always Ciro's magical sense went a little haywire in the house. Given the strength of those living inside and the amount of mana they had was enough to alert even the densest of magic users and Ciro was anything but oblivious when it came to sensing magic.

Half expecting Tina to be in the living room waiting for him Ciro was shocked only to find Terra sitting on the couch. She turned and looked to see who had entered her house and waved at Ciro when she had spotted him. It didn't shock to see that Terra was in her Esper form, he'd seen her in it often enough that he had gotten used to seeing her like that. Quickly she had gotten off the couch and headed to the stairs and called out to her eldest daughter.

"She'll be right down Ciro," Terra informed as she turned back to face her guest. "And you do look good today, I know Tina will think so too." Blushing a little Ciro simply rubbed the back of his head and accepted the compliment.

"So you're taking Tina out to dinner at Prishe's, didn't know you were ready for such a step. Honestly wasn't sure that you had it in you." Nimbus' tone said that she was teasing but the look on her face was almost one of genuine surprise.

"She was really down about losing our trip to Gilg's to your sister and I just offered the first thing that came to mind."

"That's adorable," Terra chimed in. Ciro's blush deepened at the words, she clearly wasn't going to be satisfied until he was red in the face.

Terra didn't have to say anything more to have all the blood in Ciro's body rush to his face, Tina had appeared on the top of the stairs. Like her mother and sister, she was tranced. While Ciro was used to Terra being tranced and saw Nimbus like that on a daily basis, it didn't really register that they were technically naked, though in Nimbus' case she did wear clothes. Tina didn't often trance, mostly just to fight or when her emotions got the best of her. To see her like that, Ciro wondered what caused her to appear like that, as he had many times before, Ciro wished he had Fay's powers.

Walking down the steps Ciro watched Tina, unable to take his eyes off her. He wasn't starting for any improper reasons, though it'd be a lie to say that he wasn't acknowledging what he was seeing, but worry was written plain on his face. He walked forward to meet her at the bottom of the steps and he took her hand like he had on many occasions before when she was like this.

"Well Tina, you ready to head out for dinner?" Ciro asked as calmly, putting on a smile and trying to get his heart rate under control. It was a trick his Aunt Rin had taught him, when you want to calm someone else down you had be calm yourself.

"Ciro, I'm tranced, do I look like I'm ready to head out to dinner?"

"Far as I can tell you are." Distracting her from whatever was causing the stress as best he could Ciro made it his mission to avoid mention her tranced form or even showing that he registered that she was in it. "Starlight is out in the stable isn't he?"

Since he already had her hand it wasn't hard for him to pull her out of the house, if Tina was tranced outside of combat like this she was actually pretty easy to lead. Terra and Nimbus stood out of the way, letting Ciro take care of Tina, both mother and sister knew that he'd be able to bring her out of it.

Reaching the stables that housed the plethora of Chocobos without so much as a peep from Tina, Ciro knew that whatever was getting to her was big. He only hoped that by the time they got to the restaurant she'd be calmer. Finding Starlight's nest wasn't hard, while all the stalls were clean, only a few of them were as immaculate as his or as big. Not to mention that the sleeping Chocobo had a small Tina doll that had been made by Celes that he had nestled around. Ciro stood at the opening of the stall and looked at the sleeping form. Having dealt with his sister's Chocobo, Gladiolus, often enough, Ciro was afraid to wakeup Starlight, they were siblings and he feared Starlight would have the same temperament as his brother.

Even in her present state Tina knew what Ciro was thinking and started to get Starlight ready for travel. The big drought Chocobo had happily roused to see Tina and kweh'd in joy when he saw that it was her. Her trance form didn't bother her Chocobo in the least as she got him ready, getting him saddled and prepped for flight, feeding him a xelphatol apple in the process. Once he was all-ready Tina turned to Ciro with a worried look on her face, she clearly still wasn't ready for what they had planned.

"Thanks Tina. I would have been of more help but Gladiolus has made me more than a little shy around large Chocobos."

"It's no problem Ciro, but are you sure that you still want to head on out?" Ciro had hoped that getting Starlight ready for flight would have given her some release for the pent up feelings.

"Yes, I had to make reservations for this and that was hard to get" What Ciro left out was that he wasn't sure that he'd have the courage to ask Tina out to dinner like this again, not without an opportunity like Halloween.

"I suppose we should get going then," Tina turned and looked at Starlight like she didn't want to climb onto the bird's back.

Taking advantage of her open posture Ciro moved over and wrapped his arms around Tina. He felt her whole body tense at his touch and her breathing quicken as she tried to get control of herself. Standing and holding her through that Ciro felt the fur of her face brush against his as she calmed down. Normally he wasn't so bold as to do this when she was her normal self, but he knew that when she was like this, it would help bring her back.

"Tina, I've told you each time that you get like this, just take a deep breath and let go. I don't know what's got you like this tonight but just focus on the fun. We're going to have dinner at one of the nicest places in Mobliz and if I remember right, Prishe's place has a cool crystal theme to it. I brought enough gil that you can order a few meals if you want, there's nothing to worry about"

As he held her to him Ciro could feel the whiskers against his face start to recede. When he pulled back Ciro felt his breath catch. Tina had always looked stunning but today she had seemed to pull all the stops. She, like he, had bothered to dress up but the outfit she had on made Ciro feel like he hadn't put enough effort forward. She wore a red dress that hugged every, single, curve of her body and accented them. The length of her skirt had a slit running up one side all the way up to Tina's thigh showing off her smooth leg. A pair of red heels put Tina a little taller than when she had been in her Esper form.

Ciro had gulped when he saw where the top of the dress ended. It covered just enough of her chest to be deemed any amount of decent and the dress definitely brought attention to the area. Since the back of the dress was non-existent Ciro could only surmise that the front of the dress was being held up by magical means. Her hair had even been pulled up into a bun, something that was done for a more formal occasion and Ciro had to admit she looked great. He noticed a gleam on her ear and took a closer look to find that she was wearing a pair of earrings. They were a silver circle hanging from a two link chain with a red orb set just below where the chain connected to the circle.

"Like what you see?" Tina's playful voice purred as she spun a little to give Ciro a better look. It was all that he could do to nod his head.

"Where is he?!" Shin's voice echoed from the house. That same dreaded feeling that Ciro had felt in the house now sent a chill down his back. All Ciro could tell was that for some reason Shin was angry and given the fact he was calling for a male made him assume that Kefka had oddly done something to warrant his father's anger.

"That would be our cue to leave,"

Tina climbed up on Starlight, Ciro had the decency to look away as her dress was already daring enough without her hosting her leg up onto a Chocobo's back. She turned back and held out her hand to Ciro who waved it away as he hiked up onto Light's back. Ciro had been aiming for the spot behind Tina but found that he had wound up sitting in front of her. A cheshire grin spread on Tina's face as she moved forward and grabbed the reins, essentially hugging Ciro in the process, along with pressing certain body parts against him.

With a loud kweh to the sky Starlight took flight and made a brief pass by house where Ciro got a glimpse into the house to see both Pris and Terra holding Shin back. Nimbus had opened the door in time to wave good bye at the passing trio. Nimbus cupped her hands to her mouth and called something out to them but Starlight had taken them too far for Ciro's human ears to hear but judging by how Tina nodded her head she had gotten the message that her sister had shouted out to them.

* * *

The flight to Prishe's had been quick and slightly uncomfortable for Ciro, not physically speaking though his physical senses were definitely the reason. Tina had been pressed up against him the entire time and it had been a little mentally taxing trying to not think about how the sensation on his back. It wasn't unpleasant in the least, in fact that was the problem and Ciro didn't want Tina to think he enjoyed it too much, like all the guys that pined after her. He had his place as her friend and he didn't want to jeopardize that for any reason.

When they landed in the parking lot of the restaurant Tina gracefully floated them both off of Starlight's back. A simple pat on his side was the only signal Tina needed to give to send the large Chocobo back home.

"Don't want to leave Light out here when he can be back home resting." Heading towards the door Tina waited for Ciro to catch up to her.

The entrance to Prishe's wasn't as extravagant as one would expect. A simple outside did not prepare the customers for what lay inside. Light threatened to blind Ciro as he entered from the plethora of crystal that shone in the room. The entire floor had been made of the rock, blue and shining bright with some hidden power. Crystalline pillars ran up the walls giving off a low yellow-orange light that was the main source of illumination. While each table was wooden and looking somewhat simple compared to the rest of the room but the chairs were a great segway to them. Chairs were made out of both wood and crystal, the legs look like they had grown straight out of the floor while the gem slowly gave way to lumber, turning to full wood by the time it reached the seat.

Each table seemed to have bodies in the seats accompanying it, there appeared to be no room for the young duo to sit. The wait staff was bustling around getting orders out to their tables as fast and promptly as they could without disturbing the guests or other staff members. One man spotted Ciro and Tina and quickly made his way through the maze of tables and people. He was dressed in a black suit and looked very much the part with a rose in his pocket made out of ruby and emerald from the looks of it.

"Can you help you young sir and miss?" He asked as he stood behind a crystal podium.

"Yeah, we have a reservation under Ciro Adamas, that's A-D-A-M-A-S," Ciro habitually spelled his last name. There was no malice or haughtiness in his voice, he simply found that most people would misspell his last name given the chance even though to him the name was spelled as it sounded.

"Yes, Mr. Adamas I see your name here. We have a lovely table set aside for you and your date."

Eyes widening to the size of dinner plates Ciro looked between the waiter and Tina. His mouth moved as he tried to deny the fact that Tina was his date but nothing came out. It was only made worse by the fact that Tina wasn't saying anything but looking at Ciro expectantly. Shaking his head Ciro managed to stammer out a response:

"S-S-She's not my date," he managed.

"My apologies," with a curt bow the waiter looked at both teens as if in a new light. Ciro looked back at Tina apologetically and swore that she looked hurt at his words. "If you two would follow me to your table." Moving out from behind his little stand he motioned for the two to follow after as he navigated the room.

Their table was more towards the back of the room near one of the dim pillars, at first Ciro thought that the light would be a bother but it actually gave off an inviting glow. The menus for both of them were already placed at their table. Ciro went to one side and pulled out the chair, he expected it to be a bit heavier than it was since part of it was pure crystal which could be a heavy stone. He waited patiently for Tina to come and sit down, while he had told the truth and this wasn't a date, it was also a place of class and was expected of a gentleman to pull out a lady's chair for her. Taking her spot that was kindly offered and let Ciro push it in for her also. He headed around the circular table and took his seat.

"Can I start you two off with anything to drink?"

"I'll have some Cabernet Sauvignon to start the night with," Tina ordered without even looking at the wine list to see what the place offered.

"And you for you sir?" the waiter turned to Ciro expectantly.

"I'll just have some water thanks," Ciro smiled as he handed the wine list over. Ghosting away the waiter left to take care of their orders.

"Still don't drink, eh Ciro?" observing that despite being of legal age in Mobliz that Ciro had never had a single drop of alcohol.

"Yup, Mom's culture has the age set up at twenty-one and I'm a few years shy of that." Not batting an eye at the fact that Tina might find it strange.

"Ciro, you are more the welcome to try some when he comes back with the bottle." When you ordered a glass of wine you didn't just buy the one glass, you bought the entire bottle since it wasn't exactly good to simply recork the bottle and drink it later. As such many places simply brought the bottle in a chilled bucket so that the customer could drink at their leisure.

"I'm fine Tina, really. I know that a lot of people our age have taken advantage of the lowered age and that's their choice. Mom made it clear that she expects me to hold true to my heritage and I plan to." Propping open his menu Ciro hid behind it as he pretended to look through it.

"Don't worry Ciro I'm not going to force you to drink any, just wanted you to loosen up a little bit." Unfolding her own menu Tina earnestly looked over the list of food that was up for the taking. "Oh and Ciro, you don't have to pay for me tonight."

"Tina," Ciro started as he put down his menu. "I'm the one that offered to bring you here _and_ I offered to pay. We're friends and I've seen how much you can eat, I've come prepared for that. Please for tonight, don't argue about it."

Silently they looked over the menu and decided on what they wanted to eat for the night. For a while Ciro felt comfortable in the quiet, taking Tina's silence as her pondering over what she wanted to eat. After having decided on his own meal Ciro had thought that he would try to strike up conversation but Tina still had her head hidden. Unsure if he should interrupt her or not Ciro waited patiently for her to be done. As if he knew exactly when both had made up their mind, the waiter they had met arrived ready to take their order almost the second that Tina had set down her menu. Ciro had settled on a simple pasta dish that he thought he remembered having before.

"And I'll have some parmesan and herb-crusted beef tenderloin, apricot brown sugar ham, honey-glazed baby back ribs with whiskey marinade, caramel apple pork chops, and last but not least some marinated pork tenderloin. All of it as rare as you can make it please." The list Tina had rattled off had made Ciro wonder if he hadn't bitten off more than he could chew. He was certain that he had brought enough gil to pay for everything but that had been before Tina rattled off five different dishes like it was just going to be her first course in a twenty course meal.

As their orders were taken another man had appeared with Tina's wine and Ciro's water. The glasses were made of crystal just like the rest of the place but they were more finely polished and while coloured, you could easily see the liquid that sloshed into the cup as the wine was poured into the ruby red cup on Tina's side. Ciro's own glass was a deep green colour that dyed the water he drank.

Waiting for the food wasn't as quiet in the least, Ciro had taken a deep breath and figured that now was the best time as ever to breach a subject that he wasn't always fond of but needed to get done. It was something that he had done often enough and while he wasn't sure that this was going to be the best time, he wasn't exactly sure when he would next have Tina alone and be able to talk about it without drawing unwanted attention.

"Tina, about your latest….. disagreement." Ciro wanted to pick his words carefully, he had thought to call it a fight but the fact that Tina had come out unscathed and the guy had once more wound up in the hospital, it couldn't really be classified as such.

"Do we have to do that now?" Tina asked as she sat back in her chair. "I mean it's pretty straightforward, he was peeking on the girls locker room and so I taught him what the cost of that was by breaking a leg or two. But we don't need to discuss that. You're my class rep but I honestly don't know what you do."

Ciro felt his hand scratch the back of his head again as he thought about what to say. "Well…. most of what I do is making sure that your actions don't come back to bite you too hard. Like with this last one, I had to convince him that it was better to let it blow over rather than bringing it up with anyone of authority given what you had already done to him. He realized that the threat of you and your anger was worse than pressing charges. Then I brought up your heritage and he turned pale as a ghost."

"I do thank you for what you do for me Ciro, but honestly, whenever my mother _tells_ people to stop bullying people you know what they keep doing, picking on people, namely Pris. When I break a few bones they leave us well enough alone." The spite in Tina's voice was easily heard, she was protective of her little sister and Ciro knew that no matter what he said she would continue to protect Pris in the way that she saw fit. Still, he had to make his point since he had brought up the subject.

"Just know Tina that I'm not sure how much help I'm going to be. I'll support you as best I can in every way I can but I'm losing my power to do so." Taking a sip of water Ciro was sincerely debating taking a drink of Tina's drink to help him through it. "Lot of the other reps are getting tired of me defending you and they're putting up more and more resistance with each of your antics. I can stop the guys you hurt but that doesn't mean that others won't be looking for a reason to strike at you in any way they can. Yeah a lot of the student body likes you Tina, but you've made a fair number of enemies also." Downing the remnants of his water Ciro leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. He hadn't meant for the conversation to end like this. He had just wanted to let Tina know that he had covered up for her again as best he could.

"Thank you Ciro, truly. I didn't mean for this to affect you. Really I didn't think it would affect anyone but me. I can promise you this though, I won't hospitalize anyone from here on out. Unless they go too far bullying Pris." Refilling her own glass Tina passed it over to Ciro with a serious look on her face. "You look like you could use it." Holding up his hand Ciro denied the drink as politely as he could at the moment.

As if by some divine plan, some of the food arrived at table, Ciro's pasta and two of Tina's five dishes. They passed the rest of the dinner in small talk, plans about what they were going to be doing for the upcoming holiday season to the antics of their siblings or cousins. Some of the stories that Tina had told about Pris Ciro understood that they were viewed through a rose coloured lens as Tina could see no wrong in her youngest sister.

While Ciro had taken time to eat his meal and savour the well-seasoned food, Tina more tore through her food. Her table manners weren't atrocious but they did leave something to be desired given the place they were in. She had managed to eat both of her first two plates before the last three had made their way out and Ciro had barely managed to get through half.

Reaching the end of the meal Ciro readied himself for that damage that was incoming. While he was certain he had enough to cover for the night, he wondered just how much lighter his wallet would be after this. His own meal had cost a pretty penny and had been pretty simple, Tina had gotten five and at least one of them was certainly on the higher end of the price board. If it wasn't for his mom making sure to fatten his wallet he was sure that he would have had to ask Tina for help in paying and he didn't want to lose what dignity he had.

"Hey," Tina called the waiter over as he passed by. "Can we see the dessert menu please?"

"Certainly Miss," he readily produced a small list from inside his coat. "I had two ready incase you two wanted to browse our wide selection."

"Tina," Ciro looked on in horror.

"This I _am_ paying for Ciro and you best order something." Taking a look into the dessert menu didn't take nearly as long as ordering their main courses.

Ciro was only slightly shocked when Tina had gotten two large bowls of ice cream, a small plate of dark chocolate fudge that was so decadent that Ciro was sure that all chocolate from then on out would be a pale comparison to what he had eaten, a slice a of lemon and fresh raspberry dacquoise, a whisky tart, a single serving of mocha pots de creme, and a pair of cream puffs with dark chocolate sauce. She had ordered more dessert than she had normal food. At that moment Ciro felt his ego deflate a bit when he thought that he had been able to take care of Tina for the night when he had barely made a dent in her appetite. For himself he had just ordered the fudge as it was the cheapest thing on the menu and he didn't want to impose on Tina's generosity.

Her manners hadn't improved when it came to dessert and Tina had eaten everything pretty quickly except the ice cream because even an Esper wasn't immune to a brain freeze. Tina announced herself done when she had finished everything but one of the cream puffs, one of the ice cream bowls, and the mocha pots de creme.

"You're done?" Ciro asked confused as he looked at the unfinished food in front of her. He had finished his small plate of chocolate already and had just been waiting on his friend to finish.

"Yes and I see you didn't really order much there. I don't care that all you got was some fudge, that was the cheapest thing on the menu so I figured you'd like a few more things to finish off the night." Getting up out of her seat Tina pulled her chair behind her and sat down next to Ciro. "Now, either you can eat the rest of these since they're already ordered, or I can feed them to you."

"I think I can handle that on my own," taking up the spoon sticking out of the somewhat melting ice cream Ciro started to eat, he did have some pride that he wanted to protect and having Tina feed him would destroy that.

When it came time to pay for the bill Ciro tried to downplay the cost of what Tina had ordered and cover as much as he could afford but she had ripped the bill out of his hands and looked over what she had owed for the dessert. Splitting the bill appropriately they waited for the waiter to return with their change. A small camera was in the waiter's hand as he approached the duo at their table. Both teens looked confused at the device when he approached.

"It's part of the reservation package that you made Mr. Adamas, or did you not want it? I understand that most people opt for this package simply because they get to keep the fine crystal glasses." It was then that Ciro remembered looking at the information on the restaurant and wishing that he had been able to afford the glasses to go along with the experience, he had even played around with what colors he would have gotten. His first clue that some interference had come into play was the fact that the last colours he had decided on had indeed been the two that he had last looked at. When Ciro got home he was going to have to have a word with his mother about interfering with his life, and to also thank her for doing this for him.

"Uh no, the picture will be alright." Ciro moved over to stand next to Tina in the most platonic way that he could. She wasn't going to have any of it though. Instead Tina pulled Ciro in close, close enough that their faces were almost touching and linked arms with him. For the third time that night Ciro felt blood fill his cheeks as his face reddened in time for the flash of the camera.

"Think we should head on home now," Tina said as she took the offered picture and picked up her glass off the table. "And don't think I'll forget this." Unsure if that was a threat or not Ciro lead the way out of the restaurant.

* * *

Hitting the night air Ciro realized that he had no idea on how they were going to get home. Last he checked neither Tina nor him had bothered to bring along any method of communication and their ride in was long gone, resting back home in his nest. Looking up and down the street Ciro wondered just what the cab cost would be to get them back home. It was as he was pondering that bit of information that he felt the air charge with mana. Facing Tina he wasn't surprised that she had transformed, just didn't know why she had done so.

"I'll take you home tonight Ciro," holding out her wine glass expectantly Tina waited for Ciro to take it. He hadn't been braced for what happened after he had taken her glass. Next thing that he knew he was in Tina's arms much like how a groom would carry a bride across the threshold. All traces of any dignity he had were just blown out of the water by that one simple act.

Ciro gritted his teeth as he was carried through the night sky. The wind was chill against his skin but the warmth of the arms he was in helped cut through the cold he was feeling. Neither one tried to talk, Ciro was too preoccupied making sure that the glasses they'd gotten along with the single photo weren't lost in their travel.

Rather than heading to her home first, Tina had landed in front of Ciro's home. As she set him down she reverted back to her human form. While Ciro's short hair was showing definite signs of high speed travels, Tina didn't have a single hair out of place.

"Thank you for tonight Ciro," Tina smiled as she took her trinket out of his hands. "And for this." Not only had she taken the cup but also the single picture.

"No problem. I know it wasn't Gilg's and all but I hope it was a good enough trade off."

"Ciro, it was great." the sincerity in Tina's voice lifted Ciro's spirits after the events that had just transpired.

"Away from my Master!" Min came flying out of the upstairs window and down to right in front of Tina's face. "You dare to fly him through the night sky in the middle of a chill month like this? Are you insane? If I did not know the limits of your intellect I'd swear you meant for him to get sick."

"Master!" Nim cried as she too appeared in a streak of light. Instantly she was looking Ciro over both physically and magically to see if anything had happened to him. "His core temperature is a little lower than I'd like. If he doesn't want to catch a cold he best get some sleep so his body can fight it off."

"Min, Nim, enough. Tina was kind enough to bring me home after I didn't secure a way back for us. Rather than berate her you should be thanking her for getting me home." Folding his arms over his chest Ciro looked at the twin fairies like one would look when scolding their children for lacking manners. It was then that Ciro realized he wasn't the only one lacking manners. Quickly undoing the buttons of his jacket Ciro slipped out of it and handed it over to Tina. "You can give it back to me tomorrow. Don't want you walking home in the cold dressed like that."

"Oh Ciro, I don't actually need this kind of thing... but I'll take it. If anything, I'm sure it's comfortable! As for you two, I'm glad you care about your Master so much. I'll leave him in your capable hands Nim!" With a wave Tina floated away as she shouted goodnight to Ciro. He called back to her that he'd see her tomorrow, swearing she had taken a sniff out of his coat for some reason, before he returned his full attention to the two floating in front of him.

"What am I going to do with you three?" he asked no one in particular as he opened the door and headed inside to follow Nim's advice and get some rest.

* * *

 **Post-Chapter Note:** And there you have it. Simple, to the point. And... excruciating in some ways. As always, all credit goes to Jade, and I'm sure he hopes you enjoyed and are able to drop your opinion on it!


	7. The Eternal Return

**Author's Note:** After a half year hiatus and a hell of a three month writter's block, here I am with a cleary out of date story! But still, I managed to get it out, and I have to pride myself of something... even if it's not my schedule.

I based this entire storyline on a picture (which will serve as the cover for now), as rare as that is of me, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I think I captured what I meant to.

Let us hope that this groove I reatained is not as fleeting as the last!

* * *

 **An Unfinished Scrapbook**

 **The Seventh Picture**

 **The Eternal Return**

* * *

Not even one year had passed ever since the end of her adventure, but Terra was grateful to be able to say that a routine was already starting to form. She had just gotten out of her self-powered shower after a good night's sleep, taking her time to get ready, it wasn't her day to make breakfast.

Instead of making her way downstairs to help out with the sure to be mayhem, Terra had sat on her bed, pensive. Christmas was getting closer once again, and she had decided that she needed to be the one doing something special for Shin. It could not be something that she simply bought, but something she herself had made. There were just a couple of problems with that.

For one, she had no idea what kind of thing she would gift him, and secondly, Terra wasn't exactly a… "woman of the crafts".

With that being said, Terra did not concern herself with the second problem. She would get through it no matter what. Which left her with her current problem.

"What would Shin appreciate… no, that's the wrong question," Terra said, shaking her head in a mix of exasperation and slight joy. "Shin's too easy to please. I have to think deeper. What can I get him that would show him just how much he means to me?" Terra posed the question to herself.

The answer did not come easily. She slunk back into the bed for a good few minutes, and nothing graced her mind for the entirety of the time. Disappointed at the lack of ideas, Terra sighed and waved her hand across her scalp, her hand stopping as it left her hair and touched another tissue. As if lightning had struck her mind, Terra's eyes shot open and she swiftly untangled her ponytail, bringing her signature ribbon into vision.

She closed her eyes, reminiscing about one of the few memories she had of her mother and of the Esper World in general, that of her sewing her now keepsake ribbon as she cared for her, her kind smile burned into Terra's mind. A small smile of realization came upon Terra as she reopened her eyes. "If my Mother infused her love into this ribbon, I have to do the same for Shin," she told herself, standing back up and turning to leave the room. "Although, it clearly can't be a ribbon. Shin doesn't seem the type to enjoy crossdressing… although Cloud doesn't seem to either, he just hides it well," Terra mused, proceeding to try shaking off the less-than-appropriate thoughts that were starting to appear.

Her head in the clouds, she was swiftly back to the earth when a small body collided with her. She held herself from falling, looking down to see one of the many orphans she cared for looking up apologetically. She smiled back at him, calmed him and helped him up, prepping his clothes and hair once again. Until her eyes locked on to a single piece of his garments.

"That's it!" Terra exclaimed, nearly throwing the child airborne in excitement. "Simon, you can ask Shin for an extra cookie today! Tell him Mama allowed it!" she exclaimed, flying downstairs at breakneck speeds. She bolted past the kitchen, taking with her a pair of waffles Shin had prepared, leaving everyone to wonder what kind of tornado had just passed by. As soon as she was out the door, she tranced and took to the skies above.

* * *

"Books on knitting? That all?" Rosa questioned, taking up her teacup as she looked over the table towards Terra, who had been moving uncomfortably ever since she had arrived at Baron.

"Y-Yes. It's just that I felt I needed to make Shin a gift with my own hands," she explained, slowly taking one of the cakes Rosa had offered her. The former Queen of Baron released a hearty chuckle, much to Terra's confusion. "Is it that strange?"

"Goodness no. It's just that when you burst into the castle, I expected your reasoning to be less… peaceful. It's refreshing really," Rosa replied, her smile fading for but a moment when she laid her eyes on a portrait of Cecil. Recollecting herself, she continued: "I'd teach you myself, but as you most likely predicted, Ceodore requires all the help he can get with returning Baron to its former glory. However, I will lend you some books from the royal library, along with a few from my personal collection. And of course… some personal pointers!" Rosa winked, beckoning Terra to follow.

"Thank you Ma'am!"

* * *

A few days had to have passed before Terra could collect the fruits of her excursion. If Shin had been the sneaky bastard he had with her gifts, then he'd know nothing about this one either! With that thought, Terra had had to wait until she was home alone, a feat harder than one would think.

In any case, she was alone now for the next few hours. Time she took to take on the intimidating stack of required reading Rosa had lent to her. The next couple hours were spent like so, reading, studying, memorizing. Until the sun started lowering, and Terra knew she had to make dinner in little over an hour to keep up appearances.

"I'm not going to learn by just looking at text," With that in mind, she took a deep breath, grabbed her needles, twisted the yarn around them and… stabbed herself square in the palm. "I can't say I expected otherwise," Terra winced, using her limited White Magic to close the wound, although not making it disappear. "Blood, sweat and tears…" she told herself, clapping on her cheeks to forget the pain before diving into another attempt.

With that, Terra lowered her head, immersing herself in her work.

* * *

"Terra?" the voice of Celes woke Terra up from her reverie, the apprehensive face of her best friend facing her down. "It's the third time you just drift off. You can't tell me nothing is wrong," in the midst of the irritation there was some genuine concern. Terra just knew Celes was not the best at expressing it. Faced with that, she knew she not only couldn't lie her way out, but it'd be a betrayal of her friend's worries to try to do so. However, as she looked around, she was reminded of where they were.

The falling snow did nothing but embellish Mobliz as its inhabitants had joined at the town's center to celebrate Christmas. It was a very rustic and rural celebration to be sure, but that was part of its charm. Humanity would take a long time before it could go back into the festivals of the previous years.

"It's not something I can tell you here," Terra explained, making a point that she had no idea where Shin was at the moment, and he could _not_ become aware of what she had tried to do. She looked back at Celes and got a silent reply, one that told her "Take me to where you can,". Taking a deep sigh, Terra decided to bite the bullet, taking her friend's hand and warping both in a flash of green light.

Moments later, the duo found themselves on Terra's bedroom, the esper girl being grateful that she had felt no one else inside the house.

"What's so important that you had to find an isolated place to show me?" Celes questioned.

"It's not just that I needed an isolated place…" Terra told her, moving towards her wardrobe. "I think the best way to explain this is to show you," she said as she opened it, a mountain of her creations poured out, their half hazard positioning giving in as soon as the door opened. Celes could only raise an eyebrow as her feet and head had been covered with several would-be clothing articles. "This is… exactly what it seems," Terra said, exasperated.

"Let me guess, you wanted to make something for lover boy on Christmas," Celes asked, examining the piece of wool that had lodged itself on her head. "And it's pretty clear you weren't anywhere near ready,"

"Yeah… I just, needed more time," Terra told Celes, shaking her head. "But it's too late now. I really wanted to give something to him on a day that had meaning,"

"Meaning, heh?" Celes mused, tapping her lips in thought. "Well, in two months, there's supposedly a festivity called Valentine's day. It's supposedly a day where couples show their appreciation for each other. I'd reckon that's a perfect little excuse for your plan,"

"Really? That's perfect then! I've gotten this far in just a month, with two more…" Terra began, her hopes swelling back up.

"Wait, before you start getting your hopes up… I have no idea how you managed to keep it hidden from Shin so far, however, I don't trust you to have it have been a well thought out plan," Celes pointed out, to which Terra could only weakly smile. It was true, she was just kind of making stuff as we go. "With that in mind, I want you to leave that job to me. Meet me at my house in a week. I have a plan…"

And with that, Celes and Terra started talking, Terra wondering just how Celes had concocted this intricate a scheme in mere minutes.

"That's… amazing Celes! Thank you!" Terra exclaimed, pulling her friend in for a hug.

"No need to thank me just… ease up…" Celes said, cringing as Terra's diminutive form squeezed all the oxygen from her lungs.

"Oh… sorry…" Terra appoligized, letting go and lowering her head in shame.

"No need to get gloomy. Let's just go back before this looks suspicious. God knows, we'll need all our good girl points to get away with hiding all of this under the rug…"

"Don't worry Celes, if there's one thing I do well, it's scoring those!" Terra told her, holding onto her hand and warping back into a much livelier Christmas.

She wasn't wrong.

* * *

Months had passed and February, the height of winter, had arrived. The fated day was just around the corner, which meant Terra was on her final trip. Determination welled up inside Terra as soon as she had woken up, all those months had led to this. After making sure she looked at least presentable, a habit Celes had to drill into her, she slipped on her gloves, took up her bag and floated gracefully downstairs, where her children were being fed by a scruffy looking Shin. Feeding over a dozen hungry, loud mouths was not something you got used to easily, and honestly, she enjoyed seeing someone like Shin scramble on to meet the demands of her, admittedly, spoiled orphans.

"How are you holding up honey?" Terra asked him, quickly levitating one of the plates that had fallen from his hands just before it hit the ground.

"Good enough… today's the day Celes needed your help isn't it? I made you breakfast early, you can just take it and leave! I'll hold down the fort," Shin told her pumping his fist into his chest in an attempt to sound convincing. Terra didn't bother pointing out just how badly he had done so far, she was just happy he was trying. For now, she did just what he said. She had much work to do.

Immediately after leaving the house, she rushed off into the streets of Mobliz, taking a sharp turn into an alleyway. Making sure she hadn't been seen yet, she tranced and took to the skies, keeping track of the time. Stopping at the usual height, just above the clouds, she resigned herself to waiting. She had been earlier than usual in her drive to finish her work as soon as possible, however, her ride wasn't going to show up any sooner for it.

* * *

After just a few minutes, the sounds of engines penetrated her ears. Detecting from whence they came, Terra flew in the direction of the coming airship, parting the clouds to reveal the recently rebuilt Blackjack, Celes on starboard looking for her. Waving at Celes, she flew into the airship and landed on the prow.

"An early bird, aren't you?" Celes questioned as her friend returned to a normal, more human form in front of her. "Although I can't blame you, we've all become one the past few weeks,"

"Yes, we don't have much time left, but I think we're close to getting it right!" Terra exclaimed, nudging her friend to move. Celes chuckled at the excitement that permeated the usually aloof girl and walked with her downstairs, passing by Setzer's apprentice who had flown the ship more in the past 3 months than in his entire lifetime.

As they reached the hull of the ship, serenated by a haunting tune they had come to know so well, they headed down the stairs to where the Blackjack's flying casino was usually held, now slightly altered for the purpose of serving the meeting. The counter that served as the refreshment vendor was still intact, but all of the gambling tools had been replaced with more unassuming and spacious tables for Terra and her friends to work on.

"Ah Terra, you're here. The usual?" Setzer asked from behind the counter, the gambler knowing exactly what the girl's preferences were by now.

"Yes Setzer, just don't try to spike it this time. I need to be on top shape today!" Terra told him as Setzer slide the drink through the counter towards her, just a simple apple based alcohol-less drink.

"As much as I love seeing our princess show a different side of herself, for once, I agree," Edgar said from the corner of the counter, a wooden guitar in his lap. "It'll be a close shave for us all,"

"I don't understand how you're still drinking if you think that then bro," Sabin joked. Strangely for everyone but the group, he had been the source of the haunting piano music that had permeated the Blackjack ever since they had arrived. "At this rate, I'll be on the winning side again!" he taunted, ending his piece with a bang.

"Please, as if your rusty piano could out serenade the strings I have perfected over the years!" Edgar exclaimed, swiftly moving his right leg over his left and starting to play his own, admittedly equally melodious tune.

"Edgar, cut the act, you sounded just as ungodly awful as Sabin when you joined this little escapade," Setzer pointed out as he took his glass and started to clean it.

"Says the person that has resigned himself to a life without the beauty of women. Your apathy towards the ladies is appalling Setzer," Edgar said, weaving the strings of the guitar as if part of his body. The King of Figaro was talented; no one would ever put that in question. It was how he used the talents that was far more dubious.

"Better to be chaste than to be caught hitting on a ten-year old!" Relm exclaimed from behind Edgar, leaping onto the counter as Edgar nearly snapped the strings on his guitar at the reminder. Terra and the others couldn't help but share a hearty laugh at the reminder of that day in Thamasa. "C'mon Edgar, it's a nice story for the bonfire, don't be so down on it! You can make up for it by not failing horribly this time!" The now fourteen-year-old said as she got a glass of milk from the bartender, drinking it in one go and leaping off the table back into her artist's stool to work on her painting.

"Now that we're on the topic… Who _are_ you two fighting over? You joined our group specifically for a place to train your musician skills, and we're all here to either please our dates or to get a date," Celes questioned, the question everyone had had since day one finally coming up.

"We've been meeting every week for the past 3 months on this ship to practice for that reason, we won't laugh at your choice," Terra reassured, smiling gently at the twins. It had been three months since Celes had visited Terra with the news. It had been both parts reassuring and hilarious that most of her friends were just as inept as her. Leave it to Celes to dig up dirt on people yet use it to help them.

The twins sighed, looked at eachother, took yet another deep breath and said:

"It's Faris,"

"Faris Scherwiz,"

The room was silent for a good minute before anyone could process this. As soon as they did, Terra's first reaction was of shock, but the rest was not exactly that.

For the first time in a long time, Terra witnessed Celes completely lose composure as she doubled down and nearly fell into the floor laughing. The reaction of Setzer and Relm were hardly less subtle.

"Everyone, be come on! Don't be mean!" Terra exclaimed, trying to tide the situation down. It took more than a few moments for it to wind down, but when it did, Celes was the first to talk.

"I'm sorry is just that… the Princes of Figaro are skirt chasing a woman masquerading as a man… that also ran away from being royalty. Twice. "Celes said, whipping the tears from her eyes. "Honestly, I knew Edgar had a weird taste, but I guess it runs in the blood,"

"I'm more worried about your approach," Setzer said, scratching the untrimmed beard on his chin. "You're wooing a Pirate quote unoquote King by serenading her with Classical Music. I mean, it's not as bad as Relm's approach, not that stalking and gifting daydreaming imagery to someone you never talked to would ever be worse than anything, but it's not what I'd do…"

"Shut up old man, your idea of a first date involves announced kidnapping!" Relm screeched, going back into her painting.

"I appreciate the concern Setzer, but I've actually learned from her sister that she has a secret liking for many things that she lost from her days as royalty. Classical music is just one of them. You see, unlike some, Edgar Roni Figaro does his research before moving in," Edgar pointed out, dismissing Setzer's warning and going back to work on his guitar playing.

Terra, curious about what Relm had drawn this time, went in to check on her while this was happening.

"Well… she certainly managed to draw Arc's face in this time," Terra said, a small cringe apparent beneath her smile. While the art on the canvas was astonishing for someone her age, she was pretty sure that Luneth's quiet, scholarly friend did not own a gleaming Pegasus on which to ride on to save Relm in a Princesses' gown. He was also not a buff knight. Truth be told, his face was so different from the rest of its body Terra could not imagine anyone not perceiving it as foreign. This wasn't the first painting she had drawn this way. In fact, it felt more like she was putting her daydreams to the canvas instead of reality.

"Look, Terra, an artist like me must certain artistic liberties to enhance her art! You don't get it, but I'm sure Arcie will!" she exclaimed, going back to finishing one of the many paintings she planned on just gifting Arc. Truth be told, Terra was a bit sorry for the boy. What a way to start the day that will be for him.

"Well… good luck Relm!" Terra said, smiling at her. "And you two too Edgar and Sabin. I'm sure she'll love both!" She encouraged, moving back onto her table and sitting across Celes. It was about time she got to work.

Taking off her needles, Terra removed her gloves, weaved them around the wool and began to do her thing. Celes soon joined her, her gift far more advanced in Terra's eyes than her own.

"You're almost done Celes! I'm jealous," Terra commented as both of the girls started to work on their projects.

"I've learned to sew from Cid when I was a girl, made it easy to keep my uniform in check. Honestly, the fact that it took me this long to make a simple bandana is bad enough," Celes pointed out, making Terra pout.

"You're always too harsh on yourself," she commented, flinching when the momentary distraction led her to stick a needle into her right pointer. Already used to it, she moved to quickly bandage it after a quick spell.

"Look who's talking. How many of those things have you completed and discarded? Half of them looked presentable, the other half looked good!" Celes retorted, clearly frustrated by the pile of surprisingly well made winter wear that was pilling behind Terra.

"Good or presentable aren't enough. It must be… perfect," Terra said, breathing deeply as she felt the needle tear through her palm again.

"Your dedication is commendable Terra, but I'm sure Shin would appreciate even your worst attempts," Setzer told her, leaving a glass of apple juice on her table. Just as Terra was about to shoot him a glare, the gambler shrugged and turned his back: "Oh, but who am I kidding? You're just like me. You go for the jackpot until you bust. Just be sure to stop before those hands are covered in scars,"

With that said, the conversation between the group finally died down as they immersed themselves into their own projects. So immersed was Terra in particular that the rising and setting of the sun passed by her, with only a stern reprimand from Celes stopping her from skipping the meals for the day.

She finished her clothing pieces, always getting praise from everyone but herself. They were missing something. She just couldn't understand what. As the night passed by and everyone stayed to work overtime in order to make it to their date, Terra's frustration peaked as she finished one piece too many. She shrieked in anger and headed to the counter, needing a drink.

In it she ruminated on the issue. Just why were all those pieces satisfying everyone but her? What could possibly be missing? Then, it hit her.

 _A connection._ She inwardly told herself. Yet, even in this realization, she felt uninspired. She knew what she had to do, but she didn't know how. Moments, minutes passed, maybe hours, as Terra immersed herself in deep thought. So closed off was her mind from the outside, that she didn't even pay much mind to her failing vision. Or her nodding head.

* * *

Before she knew it, she was sprung back into consciousness as the sun struck her closed eyes in the counter.

She gasped in horror, realizing she had slept through the night and then looked around to see that she had been left alone. Part of her was despairing, the other was angry. They had just-

"I kicked them out," Setzer said from the billiard tables to the side, shooting some balls into the hoops. "We tried to wake you up, but you've clearly not slept anything near enough, so all our attempts failed. You can check your hair for the water we poured on you," with her hand, Terra did so, and the moisture was indeed still there. Her anger faded, changing from her friends to herself. "I couldn't let them blow their own chances just to sit here, thinking of ways to wake up Sleeping Beauty,"

"You're right Setzer. You did what was right. Sorry for nearly pouring my frustrations on you…" Terra said, looking down into her lap, admonishing herself.

"It's alright my girl. But most importantly, you now have a choice to make. Do you play it safe and leave with the chips you gathered, or do you go all in?" Setzer questioned, shooting another ball on the billiard table. Terra knew what he meant. Would she go with one of the supposed failed gifts, or stay here and try to get the perfect one, at the risk of ruining this day even further? "Celes relayed to Shin that he should only expect you at dinner. I don't know what she said, but I think he'll accept your explanation eitherway," Setzer continued, taking a towel by his side and moving towards her. "For now, just dry up that head of yours and tell me when you want to drop me at Mobliz,"

"Thank you," Terra replied meekly, still disappointed at herself. Was she about to fail again? Twice in two tries? She removed her ribbon to let her still wet hair flow, laying it on her lap as she dried it up. Then, her eyes met with the ribbon and something clicked. "Setzer?" she called as her skin began to crackle.

"I have all the time in the world, such is the fate of a bachelor on a day like this," Setzer said with a sly smile, moving back to his billiard table.

Terra herself looked out of the window. It was noon, that much was obvious. She had time for one more go. She looked at her hands and realized she had subconsciously tranced. Good. She was more sensitive while like that.

She took her needles, lay down her ribbon in front of her, got the fabric she needed and, in a single, decisive movement, she began what would be her masterwork.

* * *

Shin sat on the kitchen of Terra's home, waiting as the stove prepared food for the dinner he and his girlfriend should be sharing.

He was worried. Not questioning Terra's loyalty, no, he knew exactly why she was taking so long. He was just worried that Celes was gravely undermining the condition Terra had been on this morning. Still, he had everything prepared. Dinner was to be grandiose and succulent, the kids had been dispatched to play with "Uncle Gau", Katarin and Duane had left the house for her Mama's date, and he had both his gifts in his sights.

He was only missing one thing. His Valentine.

A knock on the door. Shin leapt out of his seat and rushed through the hallway into the entryway, nearly tripping himself in the process. As he reached the door, he stopped, collected himself, and, just as another knock came, he took action, opening the wooden structure.

He found himself staring down a girl, no, _his_ girl, haphazardly extending a wrapped up gift to him, her head low and cheeks crimson.

* * *

"I'm sorry for taking so long…" Terra told Shin, her emotions still on fringe. She had stared at that door for the last 5 minutes, gathering the courage to knock. Both to face her boyfriend and to face what he'd think of her creation.

She looked up, finding Shin not happy, but worried.

"Terra… your hands!" he exclaimed, cupping both of her hands with his own. She knew this wouldn't get past him. Rare was the finger that didn't possess a single bandage, some would even have a couple. And it didn't stop there. Everything above her wrist was covered in makeshift healing gear. "What did you do to yourself? Don't tell me you-"

"Shin, stop being a worrying nancy!" she exclaimed, genuinely both thankful and amused at how fast Shin's imagination had gone all over the place for her. "I'm just not the best with needles is all…" she told him, covering her mouth with one of her hands immediately. No use in wrapping up the present if she was just going to give it away was there?

"Sorry, I know I worry too much. I take it that's for me?" he asked her, pointing at her still outstretched arm holding the small package.

Swallowing dry, Terra's nerves nearly stopped her from saying:

"Y-Yes. I made it myself," those last four words set Shin's eyes ablaze. She could only gasp as Shin swept her gift from her and opened it up in a frenzy. Inside, he found his gift.

"It's…" Shin began, Terra's heart unable to cope. She was about to apologize when: "The best thing anyone ever gave me…" the young man said, leaning on the door, breathless.

In his hands was Terra's masterwork. A scarf, that, from afar, would have seemed a simple gift. And for many, it would be. But in its design Terra had poured special meaning. It's violet center and beige extremities housed a variety of floral patterns that one would think unbefitting of a man. But Shin knew better. The design of this scarf mirrored his beloved's keepsake ribbon. Nothing he could have said would translate how he felt at that moment.

"I don't know what to say…" Shin told her, battling the tears. Terra, her feelings matching the man in front of her, couldn't detach a smile from her lips. She blinked and said:

"You don't need to say anything. Just try it on," she told him, her smile gleaming as he did just that.

"How do I look?" Shin asked, posing in an overly romantic way. Terra chuckled.

"Better than usual, and that's a tall order." She told him with a wink. He looked perfect in it. She could only imagine how they'd look together. It just sent shivers down her spine.

"Well… gee… thanks," Shin bumbled and fumbled, scratching the back of his head. "Wait a minute! Dinner is in the oven!" Shin exclaimed, bolting into the house immediately in a move that, while seemingly killed the mood, it only made Terra's heart beat faster.

"I really love everything about him don't I?" She asked herself, knowing the answer full well.

She skipped down the hallway and helped Shin get dinner ready, against his will mind you, but this was as much his day as hers.

* * *

The dining room was candle-lit, something she fully expected from someone like her boyfriend, and something she completely appreciated. Most of the dinner was spent recapping her crazy adventures this past few months, Shin alternating between astonished and slightly worried at the things they did.

They laughed at the Figaro Brother's choice in women, bawled at Terra's description of Relm's paintings, and even shared a conversation about why Terra felt like she had to do this for him. Nothing in the evening went anything less than perfect.

"Oh right, Terra… I can't hope to match your gift, but, I do have some cards up my sleeve!" Shin exclaimed, running to the outside of the room and returning with two items. The first was… a small vase containing nothing more than a bud. "This is an apple tree. I know how much you love apples, and we have the space to plant some so I figured, why not?" he questioned? Terra smiled and nodded. It was an unorthodox gift, but one she genuinely enjoyed the idea of. She could see herself having a whole orchard when she was older.

Secondly, Shin gave her her own package to unravel, which she, as he did to her, did in mere moments. And, just as he responded to her, she gasped:

"It's beautiful Shin…" as she looked at the long, baby blue dress trimmed in white that she was holding. She didn't have anything like it in wardrobe…

"Yeah, I noticed that most of our clothes were, while nice, more made for practicality, and I really wanted to make you feel like a woman of your age. Ya know, dressing in pretty dresses and nothing of that combat stuff?" he explained, quickly adding: "I know I didn't make it but…"

"Shin, don't," Terra told him decisively. She whispered a few words and, just like that, Shin lost all vision as the Blind spell blindsided him. It faded not even a minute later, Shin's eyes nearly moving out of his sockets as he saw her dressed in the very same dress he had gifted her. Terra felt like a true princess in it, any memories of her past as a weapon locked away deep in her mind, and she looked the part too. "Now, how do _I_ , look?" she teased. Shin quickly recovered and smiled wryly.

"Like someone who would appreciate a dance!" he exclaimed, clicking on a remote he had tucked away on his pocket, which caused the most classical orchestration of music Terra had heard to start serenading the room. She recognized her from one of the Opera Celes had acted in, one she had adored. And one Shin had remembered.

"You know me too well!" she exclaimed, taking his now outstretched hand.

And so, they danced the night away, the bells of midnight doing them no harm, even when the music faded, their footsteps did not. An act that none of them had ever dreamed off a few years ago, dressed in clothing that meant more to them than anyone could imagine, it truly felt like living in a fairy tale.

And so, as the dawn broke, Shin pulled her into his arms, and locked his gaze with hers.

"It's a bit late to ask for this year's but, I'll just ask for the next one. Terra, will you be my Valentine?" Shin asked, the question earning a hearty giggle from the girl in question.

"Oh Shin, I'll be your Valentine… forever!" she exclaimed as she pulled his head down, sealing her promise with the lock of their lips.

A picture of their dance would forever be on display besides Terra's side of the bed, a reminder of when she finally returned Shin's affections.

* * *

 **Post-Chapter Note:** Yeah, I think I finally satisfied my Teryu urge that I built up over the past half a decade. For now at least. I can now focus on more productive stuff... as much as I can call fanfiction productive... In any case, I hope you all enjoyed this, and you know the drill. See ya soon! Hopefully?


	8. The Disciplinary Committee

**Author's Note:** After a pretty messy... 9 months or something, we're joined once again by our other resident writer. Jade. He even managed to write his first chapter out of hiatus before I finished mine. How do you feel about being back in FF Jade?

 **Jade:** Fingers hurt. Was breaking in a new keyboard when I wrote this. But good to be back, hopefully won't be another 9 months or so before I post something again. But you know, on my own account.

Indeed. And, if I get my chapter done in this milenia, we can get to the collab chapter too.

 **Jade:** Think you can not have us wait a millennia? Would like to read it in this life. Think if I go back about 4 chapters you promised the next chapter to be the one you're writing.

Moviiiiiiiiiiiing on.

* * *

 **An Unfinished Scrapbook**

 **The Eighth Picture**

 **Crouching Tiger at Dragon's Neck**

 **Part 1: The Disciplinary Committee**

* * *

Walking the halls of the Branford Academy, Ceres headed directly towards her "club's" room. Back when she originally enrolled at the school she hadn't had any plans to join a group. Ever trying to please her mother though, Ceres had reluctantly agreed to try and find one once she had reached the seventh grade. Much to Luna's disappointment, the group that Ceres had found didn't actually spend much time together. With a school as big as the Academy, they simply couldn't hope that the teachers would be able to keep all the students in line and rather than outsource a security detail to some random group of people, they put that duty in the hands of the students themselves, thus the Disciplinary Committee had been formed. Headed by one of the teachers, getting picked for the Committee was relatively viewed as a good thing as it meant that the adults had faith in your character, and combat strength.

At age 13 Ceres had joined, while not the youngest member, she had come close to that title. Her obvious obsession with the rules had netted her a spot, but what had helped was her combat abilities. She wasn't exactly the strongest of mages out there and at only 13 she was lacking a little in terms of physical strength as well. Not to say that Ceres was weak, just that she had clear room for improvement. The skill that had caught the eyes of the teacher in charge was her ability to cancel out a foe's magic. In a world where mages were a bit more commonplace than normal, this was a useful ability to have. It wasn't something that Ceres had been born with, but something that she had learned as soon as she had been able to pick up a knife.

Now a full year later since joining Ceres still hadn't made much in the way of friends as her mother had hoped. She had sparring partners sure, but not really any that she'd go and hang out with outside of Committee work. Today though she was to patrol the halls with one of the senior members, Elayna, who looked every bit like her mother. She had the same dirty blonde hair color and even put a red headband in it. Despite being three years older than Ceres, the two girls were able to look each other in the eye. Wasn't so much that Elayna was extremely short, she was actually pretty average for a girl of her age. It was just that Ceres had fully inherited her parents her height and was taller than even some of the guys in her class. The big difference between Elayna and her mother was that she had blue eyes. Being the daughter of the famous Warrior of Light and obviously following in his footsteps for upholding justice, it was no shocker that Elayna had been appointed as soon as the school felt she was able.

Reaching the door to the base of operations Ceres strode in and headed to her locker. Inside was nothing more than a small blue crystal that held a single spell inside of it. Having asked her father for help, she had gotten the crystal to help her craft a blade made of pure ice as only the most trusted were allowed to carry actual weapons around on school grounds. The edges of her ice sword weren't sharp, but it gave her something to use when things got out of control and she needed to defend herself. Waiting patiently at one of the desks for Elayna to arrive Ceres pocketed her crystal and made sure that she was still able to draw from the power inside of it.

"Ceres, sorry to keep you waiting." Elayna hurried into the room and made her way straight to her own locker where she pulled out a simple sword and strapped the scabbard to her waist. "Class ran a bit late today." It was late in the afternoon, school was to be letting out soon, all that was left was homeroom where the students would be making sure they had everything they needed for the day and basically chatting before they headed home or to their club activities.

"That's fine," Ceres stated as she stood up and made sure that the badge on her shoulder was properly displayed so that everyone knew what she was doing out in the halls.

When Elayna was done getting her sword secured they headed out into the halls and made sure that everyone was getting to their homerooms in time. It would only last about fifteen minutes but that didn't stop some kids from trying to get out of it and head home early. Running into two such students as they walked through the school, Ceres and Elayna swiftly sent them back to class. It wasn't until school officially let out that they ran into any real problems. A couple of boys had attempted to show off a group of girls, trying to show off their control of magic. Which of course was more of a lack of control that resulted in part of the school getting set on fire. Elayna took control of the situation, making sure that the offending students got a one way ticket to the Principal's room for setting the school on fire. Meanwhile Ceres used her control of fire magic to get rid of the flames.

Most of what they dealt with was just minor infractions on the school rules, it was rare for them to have to deal with anything like the school catching aflame but it was certainly what kept the job interesting to them. Meanwhile, while they walked around their section of the vast school grounds Elayna attempted to make some small talk with her younger companion.

"How is Gladiolus doing?" she asked knowing full well that in order to get Ceres to talk, her chocobo was the easiest way to do it. Having only ever heard Ceres willing converse when it came to chocobos, it wasn't hard to figure that she had one and it had only been a matter of persistence to find out that name of said flying bird.

"He's doing fine," Ceres commented nonchalantly. While it was the quickest method to getting Ceres to talk, there was no guarantee that she'd say much of anything back. She was a girl of few words.

"Didn't you say that you had gotten him from the Branford stock of chocobos? What made you pick him exactly?" Trying a question that would hopefully get a longer response, Elayna didn't mind that she already knew the answer, she was trying to get her younger classmate to open up just a little bit.

"Yes, he's from their first brood. He was small even back when I picked him. I liked his plumage though, he was such a glossy black." A soft smile crept onto Ceres' face as she remembered her parents taking her over to their neighbors and being led back to the stables to pick out her very own chocobo." All the chicks were just old enough to be given away so he was sitting with his brother and sisters. Of course Tina had already taken Starlight from the group. Gladiolus wasn't anything special from the looks of them other than that he was slightly smaller than the others. But he waddled on over to me while his siblings played and that was what made me pick him, he came over to me rather than play."

"Sounds like it was love at first sight," Elayna joyfully teased.

"I had felt like he picked me, little did I know that Mother had gotten his attention with a krakka root." Before Ceres could go into any further explanation of what had happened back then the sound of flesh hitting stone echo through the hall. Fearing what was going on the two girls broke into a run heading to see just what had caused that noise.

When the got into the next hallway they could see a group of three boys clustered in the corner. Ceres gritted her teeth when she saw the tell tale glint of metal in the hand of the boy in the middle. All three were easily in Elayna's age group judging by their appearance, not one was exactly weak looking either. They had clearly spent their free time in the gym, even remembering to come in for leg day. Extending her hand Ceres called forth a small fireball and sent it rocketing into the air above the heads of the bullies. Grabbing their attention with such a display the two on the edge turned to face the approaching girls and it was easy to tell that they had been waiting for this.

"I see Elayna has graced us with her presence today," the one of the right sneered as wind started to swirl around his hands.

"And she seems to have brought a friend for us to play with," the other smile as droplets of water started to form in the air near him. "You'll pay for getting our pal suspended last week."

At the start of the previous week, there had been a big fight between a couple of students and one in particular had sent a number of others to the hospital due to his use of earth magic during the fight. Elayna had been the one to actually take him down, having first lured him out into an open courtyard before proceeding to beat his ass into the ground. His lackeys had managed to get off with some after school detention and apparently they were skipping out on that as well to get themselves into even more trouble.

"He got himself suspended with his actions," Elayna stated. "And if you guys continue then you'll be joining him. If you leave now I won't report you to any of the teachers. Just leave the student behind you alone and I'll overlook it this time. I rather not get into a fight again." As Elayna spoke the two delinquents started to gather more mana to them and were obviously ready to lash out at any given moment. Ceres had already cause her ice blade to appear in her hand as she moved to stand between Elayna and the bullies.

"I don't think they're going to listen to you Elayna," Ceres' voice was stern as she got into a ready stance. "But they would be wise to."

"Now why would we want to leave?" The one in the center asked while he moved forward to the student that was still trapped. "They beasts think they're so cool with their extra features, they don't know just how much of a stain they are on the world. I'll leave Daughter of Light, but only once I make sure this mutt knows her place. If you have a problem with that, you can try and stop me." The air around the dagger wielding student started to shimmer with the heat of fire magic.

Everyone stood at the ready, Elayna had even started to cast Shell on her and Ceres to minimize the damage as best as she could. Just as Elayna started to open her mouth to try to get them to see sense before breaking out into a fight, the sounds of a person speeding down the hallway could be heard. It came from the same direction that Ceres and Elayna had. A gold flash darted between the two girls and leapt over the three boys to land just in front of the fire user.

"It's alright now! Why? Because I'm here!" A familiar female voice bragged. Ceres felt her blood start to boil when she heard the voice of that golden streak. Further evidence of who it was was left in front of the boys, a small platform formed by the flooring itself having moved upwards was the telltale sign of geomancy. Nimbus Verus stood with pride beaming on her face as she shouted to her fellow dogooders. "There's no need to try and reason with villains. Nothing teaches better than the long arm of justice!" At the word justice, Nimbus proceeded to punch the bully in front of her, sending his unprepared butt to the ground. "Rock Jail!" Nimbus shouted her move like a true cartoon hero as the floor of the school snaked up around the water bully.

"Ken!" The wind user sent blades of wind at his trapped ally to try to break it apart. Ceres had already been running at him though and stood in the way of the magically pressurized air. With a swing of her sword she cut into the magic returning it to mana which her crafted sword then absorbed. "Damned girl, what'd you do?"

Rather than answer verbally, Ceres closed what little distance there was between the two of them and slammed the pommel of her sword into his face. The air around her shuddered with the effects of magic alerting Ceres to his counterattack before it even hit her. Elayna's Shell absorbed most of the attack and what did hit Ceres was barely enough to cause her hair to flutter in the breeze. Dismissing her sword Ceres reached out and grabbed hold of the boy's shoulder, ice starting to cover him. He took a swing at her but Ceres had expected it and already coated her arm in ice to intercept. With the goal to capture in her mind, Ceres stepped hard on his foot and while he was still reeling from the pain, she knocked him down onto the ground. Fast as she could she used the ice on his shoulder to hold him still, having the frost grow to connect to the floor. From there she moved to freeze his arms and legs to the ground, not giving him much of a choice but to lie there and wait.

Elayna had taken down the fire user by the time Ceres had managed to finish her own opponent off. The trapped Ken had managed to escape by using water to cut himself out of the cage but was now lying face first on the ground with a bloody nose courtesy of Nimbus. With all three taken care of Ceres was finally able to spot just who they had surrounded. It was much to her shock that she saw her younger cousin Iris sporting a few cuts as she sat slumped on the floor. Kneeling next to her Ceres was relieved to see Iris' chest rising and falling steadily.

Once certain that her cousin was fine, Ceres turned on Nimbus. The esper-girl was beaming with triumph, knowing that she had done a good deed. Sadly for Nimbus, this wasn't exactly how Ceres had seen it. Making her way over Ceres grabbed a scaly wrist, tightly enough that it snapped the captive out of her victory stupor.

"What gives Ceres?"

"Even if you were trying to help us, it's not your place to get into a fight, you could have hurt Iris with your little stunt." There was a clear anger in the emerald eyes of the half-Lunarian. Her grip on Nimbus tightened as Ceres glared at the girl. "The school only gives the Disciplinary Committee the right to fight on school grounds for a reason, we do get trained to deal with these kind of things, if even only a little. Having you come barreling in like that could ruin what we were trying to do. Elayna _was_ trying to get this taken care of without resorting to violence, something that you seem to have no care for so long as you can punch your way out."

"Common Ceres, I helped out. Iris is fine and we got the bad guys, what more do you need?" Nimbus tried to wrest her hand free but Ceres had a surprisingly strong grip. Strong as Nimbus was, there wasn't going to be a way she could get free without injuring Ceres. "Nice to know I got my own Commissioner though, just goes to show that I'm on my way to becoming a hero." The grin on Nimbus' face did nothing but fuel the anger that Ceres was feeling, she certainly wasn't happy that now she was being mocked. Sensing what was going on Elayna moved between the girls and delivered a well placed blow, causing Ceres to let go of Nimbus to deal with the sudden pain and cause both girls to stagger backwards.

"You both need to settle down." The way she spoke it was clear that there was no room for argument. Ceres looked like she had wanted to say something but bit her tongue, giving in to her senior's advice. "Ceres, it's correct that it's against the rules for Nimbus to have helped us but what you don't seem to get is that there is a bit of grey here. Mat and the others were making their move already, we were going to be fighting even without Nimbus jumping the gun." At the mention of her heroics and the fact that Elayna was taking her side on the matter, Nimbus was beaming. "Having said that," turning an cool stare to Nimbus, "Ceres is right in saying that we have our rules for a reason. While it worked out this time, please do wait until we've actually gotten into a fight before lending any aid. Not that you should be doing that anyways. Ceres, Nimbus and I will make sure that these three get to the principle, you get Iris to the nurse's office."

Nodding her head, and giving Nimbus one final glare, Ceres went and picked up her cousin. While the cuts were superficial, there was no telling if what caused them might have had some other effect. By all rights Iris shouldn't have been passed out from the few cuts she had so Ceres expected that maybe she had gotten sacred enough. With Iris in her arms, Ceres made her way down to the nurse's office.

Now one might have expected a school to have a sparsely stocked office to deal with the small amounts of cuts and such that kids might get into. Given the state of the world and just what this school taught, this was far from the truth. While not outfitted with the most advanced of the technology out there, it was certainly a far cry from the standard expectations of a school nurse's place. Six beds were lined on either side of the wall and already four of the one son the lefthand side were filled. Ceres recognized a few of the faces but couldn't put a name to them, one of them she knew was a girl in her class which made it all the worse that she couldn't remember her name. Setting Iris down on the first unoccupied bed, Ceres looked around for the nurse.

"Where-" Ceres began and was interrupted by the girl whose name she didn't remember.

"She went out, another kid got his leg broken and so she went to go collect him with a wheelchair." The nameless girl was in the room with her arm in a sling and a nasty cut on her opposite shoulder. Ceres was obviously looking at the injuries which prompted the girl to speak. "These? Got them from playing around with Mike." The boy in the next bed with a cut across his chest that'd leave a nasty scar if not properly tended waived. Ceres assumed this to be Mike. "We had wanted to duel without protecting the swords, get a feel for the real thing and well, I lost."

"You should always leave the protections on, they stop these kind of things and don't hinder the sword at all." Confused as to why anyone would want to practice using a real sword when they could easily use magically blunted ones that had no difference from a normal sword aside from the fact they didn't cut. "All you'd accomplish is… well this." Ceres gestured to the two of them. "Even my Mother's school uses blunted blades for practice." Luna had a small swordsmanship school in the town, one that Ceres had been a member of ever since she could hold a wooden sword.

"Yeah but Ceres, you have to admit that when the sword can cut there's a different feel behind it, there was so much more hesitation in my swings that I was shocked."

"And there's a reason for that!" Ceres shouted, "you can easily have killed him just as you had hurt him. That cut on his chest could have been a lot worse. I hope for his sake that you guys go back to blunted blades, that's saying that the club even lets you continue to practice. I'd expect this of someone younger than you." Turning around Ceres stomped over to Iris' bed and took a seat in the chair next to it. While this caused her to face the girl she had just yelled at, Ceres kept her eyes down. Inwardly she was cursing herself for having done that, there was a better way to have gotten that across. No doubt the teacher for the club had already given them a lecture and the nurse, Eiko Carol, had probably done the same. Having another student, one that even practiced the sword, berate them for the same thing was not what they needed right now but it was all that Ceres had thought of, this was the exact reason that she normally kept quiet around others, she ended up saying something that was hurtful or else completely useless to the conversation. Only those instances with Nimbus, and whenever her sister Tina appeared, would she speak.

Once Eiko had come into the room, Ceres gave a brief explanation of what had happened to the red-head before she left the room. Even though her shift wasn't over with Ceres headed right back to the committee's room. Putting the ice magicite back into her locker she left the school and headed towards the school's stables to get Gladiolus.

Gladiolus was an average sized black feathered chocobo. Having named him after her favorite flower, Ceres never once thought that it wasn't a fitting name for a male chocobo even if her brother had questioned it. Par for the course, Ceres had brushed off his questioning, after all what did her brother know about manly names? Still, the chocobo wore it with grace, and when he spotted his partner he kweh'd with joy at seeing her. A grin appeared on Ceres' face once she heard the familiar sound. Rushing over to his stable she reached into her school bag and pulled out a Sylkis Bud, an artichoke-like flower that Ceres found bitter but Gladiolus adored. Feeding him the flower Ceres stroked his feathers and buried her head against his neck.

"How you doing?" another loud 'kweh' was the answer she received as Gladiolus bent his head down to try and reach her bag to find himself another of his favorite treats. "Is that all I'm good for, treats?" Ceres teased as she caught his beak in her hands and pulled him away from her bag. Large black eyes stared unblinking at her before he nuzzled up against her, clearly trying to charm his way into more. "Alright, alright. But only if you can get me home before Ciro and the twins." Ciro's student council work would be ending soon and he'd take the normal route home, via public transit.

"KWEH!" Gladiolus had accepted the challenge and stood completely still, feathers only ruffling in the breeze that blew through the stables, as Ceres got him saddled and ready for flight. Taking her normally loose hair, Ceres quickly pulled it into a ponytail for the duration of her flight, it was aggravating to have her hair whip her face as she flew through the skies.

Once fully ready Gladiolus shook a fair bit to get himself comfortable with the straps before Ceres climbed on. Knowing full well that she'd be riding her companion to and from school and that she wore a skirt, Ceres had opted for the simple fact to wear shorts underneath so she didn't worry in the least that the stable was full of other students, many of them boys, when she hiked herself up and swung her leg over. Fully situated on her saddle, Ceres grabbed the reins and pushed stable door open with a small amount of magic. Gladiolus bolted once the way was clear and made for outside, not caring about the students that were coming in to get their own chocobos. The second he had a clear shot for the sky he lept and started flapping his wings to gain altitude. Ceres let out a small laugh at the enthusiasm of her friend as he flew through the air. Being one of the firstborn of Stardust, he did have a slight advantage in speed compared to the normal chocobo, and by slight advantage, it was all Ceres could do to hold onto him with the speed he was going.

* * *

When Ceres reached her house she noticed the glow of two very familiar lights. Standing in the middle of them was her brother, the twin lights being both Min and Nim. Standing next to them was…. Tina and Starlight. Feathers puffed up as Gladiolus spotted his brother and he landed next to the group. A demanding "kweh" left the black chocobo as he settled and let Ceres off. Gladiolus felt the same about Starlight as Ceres did about Tina, but was more of a sibling rivalry than any true animosity between the them. Still, Starlight was on Gladiolus' home turf and he would demand the respect he deserved being the ruling chocobo of the house.

"What's going on?" Ceres asked, her meaning clear as the day.

"I was standing outside waiting for the bus when Tina noticed and offered me a ride. Coming home on Light is faster than taking the bus and I got loads of homework, both from classes and the student council." Ciro reached over and patted the larger chocobo. "It's not like you and Gladiolus can offer, he's only big enough to fit one after all."

Ceres felt betrayed that her brother of all people was taking assistance from her rival. Taking Gladiolus towards the stable she patted his head. "He can't help his size Ciro, he's large for a black chocobo even."

"Ceres," Ciro said as she passed him by but she was having none of it. Fully ignoring her twin Ceres made a beeline for her family's stable, which had been built for her chocobo, and once she got in she started getting the saddle off of him.

"Sis," popping his head into the small stable Ciro looked a little hurt. "What's a matter?"

"You know exactly what's the matter, you rode here with _her_."

"So I'm supposed to have told her no thanks even though it was highly convenient for me just because you don't like Tina? Which, why don't you two get along, you've been fighting for quite some time now." This was a weekly discussion for the twins, Ciro had never been satisfied with the simple answer that Ceres had given him, but she had never put much thought into the explanation.

"She did something bad Ciro, and I'm not talking about all the things that you cover for her. Until she apologized on her own or fixes the problem she created I'm going to stay mad. The longer it takes, the worse she is in my book." It was quite obvious that Ceres didn't like Tina, as evident by the fact that she was openingly hostile whenever Tina came up in conversation, but while Ceres knew what it was that was driving her mad, she had yet to disclose that information to anyone else. Her parents, well her mother, left it alone since Ceres didn't do anything to Tina other than argue. Ciro on the other, having to deal with Tina and Ceres in the same company, was much more investigative about it.

"You ever going to tell me what? Does she even know what it is that she did?" Obvious questions, and one that Ciro had asked on many occasions.

"No I'm not going to tell you, even if you knew there was nothing that you could do to fix it. Doubt that Tina knows either but it doesn't look like she cares much, rather it just seems to give her a nice reason to pick a fight with me." Having gotten Gladiolus out of his saddle and made sure that his hay was fresh, Ceres pushed past Ciro and headed inside.

* * *

Taking the stairs near the backdoor that she had come in, Ceres went straight to her room. Lightly furnished by her own design, the room held mostly just the necessities to be called a bedroom. What showed that it was Ceres' room was the flower pots the lined the top of her dresser and the planter box that hung out the window. Currently the box was empty but each of the pots inside were filled with flowers of different colors, she had even managed to get the Oldrose to bloom multi-colored, a flower that naturally grew yellow, red, and blue all from the same seed. It was something that took time and showed that Ceres was invested in her gardening.

Sitting on her bed was a single letter. Not used to getting _any_ mail delivered to her, let alone dropped in her room, she hurried over and picked it up. The text made it look like a simple piece of junk mail, at least until Ceres had read who it was from. Tearing open the letter upon seeing the name she emptied the contents out into her hands. Her eyes darted over it as she read as fast as she was able to. It was a pass into the Coliseum. Clutching it to her chest, Ceres bolted out of her room and downstairs to her mother.

Luna Adamas was standing in the hall talking into a room, her husband's laboratory, when Ceres came crashing into her. Mother and daughter fell to the ground, Luna was fully ready to shout at the one who had plowed into her when she noticed just who it was. Ceres was not the kind to do this so she was more shocked than angry.

"Ceres?" her shock clear in her voice as well as on her face.

"Mother!" she exclaimed, "the school selected me to be in the upcoming Dragon's Neck Coliseum Tournament." Realization dawned on Luna as she processed the information her little swordswoman gave her.

"That's great Dear." By this time the two had untangled and both stood up. Ceres showed Luna the letter and was positively beaming. Taking it, Luna looked it over a bit more carefully than her daughter had. "Hmm, says that you'll be competing in the 18 and under section. At least they understand that you kids don't need to be fighting people like our neighbors, not that I see them participating really."

"She strong enough?" Sol's voice came from the doorway, he leaned against the frame. While standing at six foot eight, the way he slouched made him look shorted, even if he still appeared taller than his wife. "I think I heard Ciro mentioning that the two older Verus girls will be fighting as well."

"Tina's going to be there?" The normal glare that accompanied her name was replaced by a bright, if not scary, look. "When is it? I think Tina and I are long overdue for a match."

* * *

 _To be continued in;_

 **Part 2: A Long Time Coming**


	9. The Crystal Tower

**Author's Note:** And so, as I promised with Jade, I have returned, and before Jade wrote any more chapters of this story too! That's a start, huh? And I come to you with something that some of you may have forgotten, but others have been pretty hyped about. The fabled Crystal Tower mini-arc continues!

This chapter goes on to fellow Author Michael Mario. It's his Birthday… well, it's 30 minutes late, but cut me some slack here. Happy Birthday!

* * *

 **An Unfinished Scrapbook**

 **The Ninth Picture**

 **The First Wave**

 **Part 2: The Crystal Tower**

* * *

"Is that all? Because if it is, our little partnership has come to a sudden stall…" Shantotto stated from the other side of her desk, staring at Fay with a glare that could, as far as she knew, very well burn a hole in her.

"I'm sorry Professor, but I can't understand half the questions you ask of me. Aetheric levels, synchronization, it's not something that I've covered in my studies yet. I can only explain how I feel when I join with them and what changes they bring about," Fay explained, doing her best to keep eye contact with a clearly annoyed President. The diminutive Tarutaru was the most terrifying being she ever had the discomfort of facing, even in her adventures with Cuore's group. "They don't exactly talk either… so I can't ask of them much more,"

"Ever since you barged into my laboratory and took that spirit, I was kind enough to give you a chance to repay for it. A debt you seem to have become lax on, or would you say I am in the wrong?" Shantotto prodded, hopping off her chair and waddling around the room, hands on her back. Fay couldn't disagree. She had become more and more engrossed with her own studies and her escapades with her friends, she had all but forgotten Shantotto's task a lot of times. "Your silence has it all but spelled. That fire spirit of yours should have stayed shelled,"

"You can't mean that!" the girl immediately exclaimed, Ellylldan taking over as her main spirit, her wings flaring up into a flame-like color whilst her emotions soared. Shantotto stood there, looking unfazed, if a bit amused.

"I do not, hence why I did squat. You need to understand, I am not unknown to mercy, unless it interferes with my grander plan," she exclaimed, walking over to her and poking her now fiery wings. "Interesting changes… for now, this will suffice. However, next time, bring some more spice," she said dismissively just as Fay's cellphone began to ring.

Fay looked at it, then back to Shantotto, who just motioned her to go away, but not before leaving her with one final advice.

"Remember, I expect answers my girl, or your efforts to save that little spark will be flushed down the swirl! Ohohohoho!"

And with that last, chilling laugh, Fay left the office wondering just how this woman was ever considered a heroine.

* * *

The ringing of her phone began anew as she exited the room, however, just as she was preparing to answer it whilst turning, she hit something. She stood her ground in order not to fall, but, once she looked up to see what she had hit, she fell down, redder than her wings.

"Ah, there you are," Sky said with an apologetic smile on his face, completely ignoring Fay's utter bafflement and lack of words. "Aeolos was thinking Shantotto had eaten you or something. Honestly, none of us could disprove it so I came to pick you up personally," he explained, calm but with positive. Extending his hand, he offered to help Fay up. She clumsily took it without even a word of thanks and mumbled an okay when he asked her if she was ready to go.

It would take a few minutes before Fay could even speak. Not that Sky ever stopped trying to make her speak. Eventually, he finally did manage to though.

"So, what did the Diminutive Devil want of you?" he asked, reminding Fay that she had not told the group just why she had gone to meet Shantotto before their leave.

"She wanted a report on how my connection with Elly was going," she explained, manifesting her fiery esper for a few moments before having it fly back into her.

"That's the one you… _found_ in her lab, right?" Sky asked. A child of the most illustrious euphemist for a thief ever, he was primed for excusing Fay's behavior.

"He had been calling out for help, I just ha-"

"Don't worry Fay, what you did was amazing! Steal- I mean, procurin' treasure from Satan's Den and coming out with only your soul legally bonded to a contract? Not bad, not bad at all!" Sky exclaimed patting her ontop of the head. Fay was left speechless yet again for the rest of the walk to the airship hangar as a result.

* * *

Fay couldn't help but be surprised at the kind of things that this educational complex housed from time to time. The airship hangar was here for the people studying mechanics and engineering, but it honestly felt more bustling than a lot of smalltime airports with all the experimental airships leaving and the docks whilst students, teachers and researchers alike worked together or alone on their projects. It was here that the rest of Fay's usual group of friends was waiting for her, save for Cuore. Kefka was leaning on an abandoned stall, apparently asleep, while Kaze was busy keeping Aeolos from breaking something, or himself.

"She's here! Thought that giant potato had gotten to you big sis!" Aeolos exclaimed, his theatrics as over the top as ever as he embraced Fay's waist. She had still not taken to his habit of being called big sis by the boy very well, but she was happy that he had accepted her so well.

"Now now Aeolos, don't call her that, remember, she's always listening…" Fay wished she was joking. She wished she was like one of those mothers telling tales of boogeymonsters to her children. She wasn't though. As far as they knew, Shantotto was always listening.

"Glad to see you're okay," Kaze told her, Fay feeling a strangely large amount of relief emanating from him. Did he trust her so little? He would never learn. She didn't even dignify him with a response, instead heading to wake up Kefka from his trance.

"So, where's Cu?" she asked him, knowing full well she could have asked Cuore's brother instead.

"She's getting our pilot," Kefka explained, cracking his neck and then his shoulder. Fay sighed, he had actually slept standing! "Lenneth knows where we're going though…" he said while rolling his eyes.

"I did neglect informing you of our destination, haven't I?" Cuore questioned herself, as usual appearing in the middle of both Fay and Kefka. They weren't even startled anymore. "We are heading towards the Crystal Tower, just south of Saronia Castle in the current Geography," she pointed out as a matter of fact, raising Kefka's eyebrow, but making Fay take a more vocal stance.

"But that's in Pulse! Another Planet! I didn't tell my parents I'd be gone for more than a couple days, this may take more than a week!" she exclaimed, frustrated at Cuore's lack of communication. For a teacher, this was Cuore's single largest downfall. She never felt like she needed to give all the info because she was never in the position to receive and learn. The apathy was frustrating at times. And considering that traveling to the farthest planet away from Fantasia took around 2 days on a normal ship, not even mentioning the massive wait times or the time to move to Saronia and then the Crystal Tower, this would be a massive undertaking.

"Weeks? I'll get ya there before tha sun rises tomorrow…" a heavily sea-accented voice said from behind Fay as she felt the bump of a fist on her shoulder. Turning back she saw an older woman in her early forties, yet with the charisma that betrayed her years, her long flowing purple hair covering one eye and then passing by her waist, and her sailor roots not forgotten on her clothing.

"That's why I the best of the best I could for our pilot. Fay, meet Faris Gabbiani, her husband wasn't available, and admittedly, he's not as good when it comes to raw speed, so might aswell not be. Everyone else, I trust you've met," Cuore explained, introducing the woman to the girl, who offered a strong handshake.

"Nice to meet ya lass. Don't ya worry 'bout it, time isn't what 'ta gotta worry when it comes to ridin' on the Syldra. Yer bowels would be your prime concern, advice from yer capn'!" she told Fay nonchalantly before heading off to meet an excited Aeolos, who went on to ask for advice for when he'd try to be a Red Samurai.

"I know that look Kefka. The debriefing will happen onboard the Syldra. With an ample voyage on our future, it is illogical to rush this information," Cuore told him. The teen groaned but nodded, following in the girl's footsteps. The group was lead to the Syldra, a massive, violet airship with a clear blue underbelly, it's wings designed like fins in memory of Faris' departed companion. Working on it was an equally large crew, a dedication matching any normal engineer, even though it was obvious to any these were your run of the mill pirates.

"I'm surprised you got them all to run this and make it work," Kaze told Faris, a familiarity that came from the multiple times they had met on royal meetings. While Faris hated the thought of being a Queen, she didn't slack from the more casual parties of royalty. She wasn't that stiff.

"Nothin' ya can't fix with a lil' elbow grease and some hammerin' on some of skulls," Faris assured, rubbing her right arm's muscles before heading in. Kaze laughed nervously. He almost felt sorry for her crew at times. And Setzer, but he had dug his own grave, and the crew was reaping what they had sown.

* * *

As they moved through the airship, Faris began explaining:

"As ya can imagine, since my husband had some sayin' makin' this ship, there's some of dem gamblin' tools on the bottom floor. Not as many as he'd like, but enough to pass the time. They are good to kill the boredom, as much as I hate ta admit it," she told them, basically telling them that they had a way to make the trip less boring. "When ya feel like eating, ask the crew, when ya feel like restin', ask the crew to lead ya to yer rooms. I'll be busy flyin' the girl meself," she pointed out. "Also, ye only got two rooms with one bed each, so get to decidin' how ye'll share that," she dumped that info on them before stopping at the entrance to the bridge. "Now, get to someplace safe before ye insides wish ya did!" she told them with a sly smirk, entering the bridge and leaving them behind.

"The gambling room is safe. It's isolated from the pressure," Cuore pointed out, leading them swiftly down the staircase and into the room before closing the door to depressurize the room before departure. As a result, it was barely felt by them.

"Finally, your big brain was used in a way that didn't screw with us!" Aeolos exclaimed, jumping on a nearby couch. Cuore turned her head sideways.

"You have to admit sister, you are always twenty feet ahead of all of us…" a cough from Kefka caught Kaze in his tracks. "Okay, five ahead of Kefka. My point is, we're now on a ship going to another planet to a place we didn't even know we were going to go to, to do…"

"I see your point Kaze. And I apologize. It is legitimately hard to… how do you say it… put myself in the shoes of people with mind states I never shared," Cuore pointed out, admittedly looking disappointed in herself enough to get her message across even to the non-empaths. "In any case, this is not such problem. The reason you know nothing is because I chose not to disclose the information. You see, if I did… it is very likely they would not let us take this trip,"

"Cuore, what kind of mess did you get us into this time?" Sky said, he clearly meant to sound completely exasperated, but there was a bit of amusement in it, something Fay loved.

"Very well, here is what I found," Cuore said, taking a projector and creating tree images in front of the group. "There has been various fluctuations of mana on the past year or so, where some mana particles would just appear and… disappear. Repeatedly. This happens with subatomic particles, but never with something bigger than that. The fact that this was happening with magic was highly troublesome. Then, it started happening in mass. Around the Crystal Tower. Look. These are all the same tower, taken over the space of a week," she pointed at the images, the first of which showed the well-known monument of Saronia, the Crystal Tower, the second one showing a stranger, more twisted version that seemed to be closer to an amalgam than its own thing, the final one, well, was its own thing. It was still a tower made out of crystal, but much more jagged and less refined than the one before.

"And exactly why are a bunch of students taking on this job?" Kefka asked, slowly becoming more and more aware of what this could represent.

"Oh that. Well, we could not risk it escaping to the masses-"Cuore began, a bead of sweat escaping down the side of her cheek. This was one of the few times Fay could get a read on Cuore's emotions. She was nervous. And that meant one thing. She was lying.

"Normally I'd attribute this to your greed for knowledge, but you may be many things, stupid is not one of them. Us actually being here must mean one thing. This hasn't been a singular occurrence," Kaze interrupted before Fay could. She actually was going to accuse Cuore of just wanting on the phenomena, so in a way she was glad Kaze had interrupted her. She was still semi-annoyed at him though. "You're awful at lying Cuore,"

"What you said is true… A lot of these mirages have been popping up here and there across the world, and the various schools is busy keeping up a face of working as intended and dispatching researchers to the spots. Shinra has begun helping us yes, but on the past few weeks, the number of these anomalies is just enormous," Cuore explained, shutting off the image.

"Mirages? So they aren't, ya know, actually there? The CT is still the same?" Aeolos pointed out, sharp as ever. Cu nodded at her student with a smile.

"That's right. These are just mana particles. They don't affect the actual structure of matter. If they did, we'd be having a much worse problem altogether. That being said, we still have to make sure it is one…" Cuore said, pulling out a pair of wristbands. "The mission tomorrow is simple. You go to Crystal Tower and activate this locator once you're inside the main hall. If the map matches with the one in here…" she began explaining, a square entry hall appearing on the air in front of them. "Then everything's dandy. Just explore the tower and report any anomaly instantly. If the map changes in **any** way, then… these anomalies are getting worse,"

"You mean, the map is scanning the physical parts, right? If it detects something different…" Sky began, not liking the sound of it.

"Indeed, it would mean not only the aesthetical structure, but also the atomic structure has been compromised. Were that to happen, report back immediately. I am not joking when I say the possibilities of what could be in there would be limitless if that were to happen," Cuore confirmed.

"This doesn't feel like something some students should be handling…" Fay commented, feeling a bit unsure, even with Wisp's help.

"You kidding?! This is awesome! We get to be real heroes!" Aeolos exclaimed, leaping from couch to table to another couch before getting hit in the back of the head by a scroll thrown by Kaze.

"No heroes today. We're here to scout. And Fay, don't worry, as Prince of Eblan, it's my duty to take care of everyone here… well, besides my sister," Kaze said with a smile that only further angered Fay.

" _Some of us can take care of themselves…_ " Fay muttered, ignoring Kaze's requests to speak louder.

The rest of the trip went by relatively eventless. Fay and Cuore had no problem sharing the one bed in their room, even if Cuore did get a mouthful of feathers more than once. The boy's room was far more… chaotic. Even if at the end of the day it was just Aeolos and Sky fighting for the bed. Kaze slept on his own futon that he summoned while Kefka just fell to the ground asleep.

* * *

Eventually, as the clock rang for the 6th hour in the morning, Faris forced herself into their rooms. In one of them she found Cuore already awake, while Fay was easy enough to awake.

The other one…

"The hell kind of men are you all?!" She screeched as all men but Kaze remained motionless in their sleeping positions. Whipping out her bow, it took a lot of convincing for her to not shoot them awake right there and then.

Eventually, the group found themselves, if half barely awake, on solid ground, the morning sun illuminating the jagged extremities of the Crystal Tower. Kefka looked up and scoffed. It felt like it had been built like a spear towards the heavens. As the structure as crude as the civilization's motives he assumed.

"I mean, it doesn't look like a mirage…" Aeolos said, everyone looking at him sideways.

"That's the point of one," Kefka simply stated, turning his attention to Cuore. "So, where to, brave leader?"

"Oh, I am not accompanying you," she said, much to everyone's surprise.

"What?!" everyone, including Kefka, blurted out.

"Don't joke like that Cu, you're by far the most capable of us all. What if we're attacked by the ghosts of the Dragons from the time Luneth was here?" Sky said, exaggerating like always, but he had a point in both ways. Cuore had indeed told them that the possibilities were limitless if worst came to worse, and the heroes had fought weirder stuff in the pre-Rebirth times.

"And that is exactly why I have asked you to retreat immediately if the structure has changed at all. As it stands, we have a trustworthy report that the Crystal Tower had been cleared out of threats. The path to Eureka, however, less so, Eureka itself much less. Me and Faris will assess the changes in Eureka, you, on the other hand, have a much safer undertaking," for once, Cuore's completely logical take on the situation was completely sound and reasonable even for them. If anything, she was in more danger than them.

"Alright, if you need anythin' while I'm gone, ask the crew. Them be some filthy landlubbers but they got a good heart… if swindled by some gold," Faris told the group, nudging Cuore to go to the east, where the cave towards Eureka would be.

"Take care lil' bro!" Cuore exclaimed, pinching Kaze's cheeks before leaving in a hurry.

"What? Nothing to see here, we're wasting time!" Kaze exclaimed, clearly flustered by the looks everyone was giving him, racing towards the entrance of the Tower.

With a uncharacteristic chuckle, Kefka strapped the Cuore's mapping device to his wrist and started moving after him:

"He's right, let's get moving. I want to be back by lunch," And with that, the group headed up the stairs towards the tower.

* * *

Arriving at the entrance, they were met with Kaze looking on as the colossal stone doors opened up in front of them. Not knowing much of the Crystal Tower, as even Shin's tale of the adventures of Luneth was among the least well known, they turned to Aeolos.

"Wait, you expect me to know if it's supposed to do that?" he asked, shaking his head violently. "Hey I'm smart, but I've never **been** here before! And does Luneth or Refia look like the kind of people that would tell a story straight?"

"Point taken, let's keep going," Sky said, shrugging the happening off. "If we're scared by something as basic as doors opening, we really should reconsider our hobby,"

The entryway was a massive room of obsidian and golden flooring, gently illuminated by the pulsing blue of the crystal that ran through both the walls and the middle of the tiles. Pillars of the room were both made out of gold and crystal, and, at the opposite edge of the room was a twin set of staircases, in a giant floating crystal beset by a monument, a floating golden and blue cube slowly rotating at around the shoulder height.

Everyone took in the sights, mesmerized by the beauty. Be it a mirage or not, the Crystal Tower had lived up to its tales as one of the wonders of the Post-Rebirth World. All but Fay. A strange, buzzing on the back of her head kept interfering with her thoughts. Was she getting a headache? It is only fitting that Kefka, having left the mapping function working since the start, had to be the one to deliver the news.

"People, this room was supposed to be round. It's… square. Also, it wasn't supposed to have any pillars," he said, quickly dispelling any sort of wonder in most of the group as they stared back at him and the images he was projecting. As they overlapped you could see that they clashed and did not fit with each other at all.

"We need to go," Kaze said, looking around to see if everyone was there. "Where's Aeolos?!" he exclaimed, looking around the room frantically.

"Aeolos, don't touch anything!" Fay exclaimed as she had been the first to see him, the orange haired boy quickly approaching the monument and the cube. He payed her no heed, as he simply said:

"I'm just going to bring something as a souvenir!" he shouted, jumping to grab the cube which was easily almost as big as he was. As soon as he made contact… he was gone.

"Aeolos!" Fay cried out, the entire group breaking into a sprint, some desperate, some exasperated.

They searched the room, calling out for him as they did, hoping this wouldn't be a sick joke, all but Kefka, who had sat in front of the crystal and closed his eyes.

"This is a teleporter," he announced to the already despairing Fay. "His mana signature is here, but it's also faintly felt in several places upwards. Meaning he got teleported somewhere into his tower. Where to, I doubt even the most skilled mage would be able to pinpoint with ease,"

"So you're saying we have to go find him," Sky didn't question Kefka, he was making a statement.

"Sister sai-"

"He can die if we wait for Cuore!" Fay exclaimed at Kaze before he even questioned what Sky had said, unsure of why her voice came out so loud, but she paid no heed. She had to find Aeolos, right now.

"Do we even have any idea where to begin loo-"a large, deafening roar interrupted Kefka. Followed by a large, shrill cry for help. Both from up the stairs, at a surprisingly low distance of the group if their ears were to be trusted.

"Well, that's an answer if I ever heard one," Sky stated already mid sprint. Fay took flight and skipped most of the stairs, but even flying wouldn't help her outrun Kaze. Sky and Kefka were left behind, Kefka far more so than Sky.

* * *

Fay arrived at the top to see Kaze restraining a Dullahan's Blade from hitting a downed Aeolos with a garrot wire, as a large, quadruped Dragon slowly inched towards them. Her eyes were so focused on Aeolos, that even when he cried out:

"Fay, watch out!" she didn't even see the large violet sea serpent-like creature bite at her wings. Thankfully, instead of her feathers, it instead tasted an electrified boomerang as Sky arrived at the scene. With a shrill hiss of pain, it squirmed and contorted before falling into the ground, it's body filled with muscle spasms. "Good one Captain Boomerang!" Aeolos cheered as Sky waved at him, recovering the projectile.

"It's not down yet," Sky told Fay, readying himself for more. The snake's spasms had ceased, and it was no doubt readying another assault.

"Things aren't looking that well, I see," Kefka stated, catching up to the duo. Meanwhile, Kaze had successfully repelled the Dulahan's blade, disarming it. Now, the disembodied suit of armor attempted to crush the young ninja with its own fists. Aeolos himself had tired from simply sitting on his butt and had now taken up arms, standing defiantly against the encroaching Blue Dragon.

"You two get Aeolos, I'll handle this one!" Sky exclaimed, producing a chakram from his left pocket to match the boomerang in his right hand. Fay wanted to tell him to be careful, but couldn't work out the nerve too.

The duo dashed across the room, trying to get to Aeolos before the dragon did, and they would've, as the dragon was stalking its prey, not chasing it. That is…

"Ha, you come at a good time beast! You shall become a taste tester to my glorious Doman Steel! Behold, the Red Samurai's Flash!" Aeolos gloriously proclaimed, charging the dragon by himself. Fay gasped, Kefka was honestly expecting this, he just started racking his brain on how to salvage the situation however it may end. The Dragon, almost as if insulted by this whelp in red's insolence to charge him, raised its head, opened its nostrils and then thrust it forward, breathing freezing air towards the youngster. A smile crept up Aeolos' face, he was ready. Leaping far above where the wind would take him, he unsheathed his katana, now cackling with lightning, and cried out: "Tachi: Goten!" as he swopped down on the dragon's neck, slicing into it… barely. "Oh. Oh boy…"

Aeolos pulled the blade, but he soon realized that it had struck deep enough to get stuck, but not deep enough to cause relevant damage. It only got worse as the Blue Dragon's icy blood started coagulating into a freezing ice blob around the blade. Still, he had hurt the dragon. Enough so that it had roared in agony, taking off into the air immediately. As an involuntary reflex, Aeolos held on to the blade, leaving him an unwilling prisoner of the dragon as it soared around the building.

"Fay!" Kefka exclaimed, a plan immediately being concocted on the fly as adrenaline finally started to rush into the teen's body. "Can you keep up with it?!"

"Somewhat… he's better at maneuvering than me, but I can match its speed," Fay explained, lifting herself off the ground.

"Good enough, go, I'll cover for you. When you see an opening, aim for the webbing on the wings and tear it open! We can crash him if we hit those soft spots!" Kefka explained, removing his mother's Enhancer from its sheath. Fay nodded back and, readying her spear, flew towards the escaping dragon. Before she even got near it though, Kefka was already on it in his own way. "Blind!" he chanted, summoning a cloud of darkness to hover on the dragon's irises for the next few minutes, severely limiting its maneuverability and flight speed.

"Hang in there Aeolos!" she shouted while drawing near the confused wyrm. Aeolos didn't look as bad as he should though, instead exclaiming back:

"Don't worry about me big sis, I'll show this guy who he's messing with soon enough!" while still pulling at his sword. Fay payed no mind and dodged the creature's flailing tail before taking aim, beating her wings fiercely and ramming her spear through the dragon's right wing, sliding it across the bone until it gashed the entirety of the webbing. Unfortunately, the wing was divided in three by bone junctures, so while this would certainly cause the dragon pain and difficulty steering, it wasn't enough to knock down it from the sky. Worse yet, it gave away Fay's positioning.

The wyrm didn't need sight to know where it's attacker would be, even midslice it was already preparing its counterattack. Just as Fay removed her spear from the wing, she was faced with a sphere of ice, coming right her way. Changing to Ellylldan, she prepared her fire magic, unsure if she could make it in time… when a shuriken hit the side of the ball and combusted into flames, taking the ice with it.

Looking down, Fay saw Kaze, standing over the dismantled remains of the Dullahan, still in throwing form. Normally, even she'd be thankful. But the buzzing was getting worse. She couldn't help but scowl.

"Tachi: Kagero!" a wyrm's cry shook the walls of the tower, the winged girl turned to see a rare sight, Aeolos, his eyes completely devoid of any playfulness, had just sliced through the bone juncture of the dragon's left wing with his burning blade. Without any control over its left wing, the dragon began to divebomb towards the ground.

"Aeolos!" Fay called out, and Aeolos responded according, leaping into her arms, both watching as the lizard fell into its doom. Before it even hit the ground, Kefka's Firaga, Sky's burning Boomerang and Kaze's exploding Shuriken's catapulted it horizontally, hitting the ground even harder than it would have, rolling through it before stopping abruptly in a crash against another, larger staircase on the end of the room opposite where they had entered.

The three older teens looked at each other and, in a rare show of comradery from Kefka's part, they pumped each other's fists together.

"Yeah, act like you did aaaalllll the work! Forgetting someone?!" Aeolos exclaimed as he and Fay landed, pointing to himself and the girl. The group shared a laugh at the boy's antics. He may have proved he could handle himself, but he was still a kid.

Said laughter was ill-fated, as the walls of the tower trembled with a cacophony of roars.

"Oh what is it now?" Kefka groaned, looking around to see what was going on.

"Whatever it is, I'm not saying to find out. Let's get to the…" as soon as Sky pointed towards the stairs, on each of them fell a dragon, of the same shape, but each of a different color, one red and one yellow. "Stairs…"

"Crystals… What now?" Aeolos cursed under breath. Kaze then chimed in.

"We could take the staircase behind us," they looked back, fully intending on doing so… only to find the dragon they had hit to be slowly standing upright. Unable to fly, yes, but standing all the same.

"Any more _bright_ ideas?" Kefka asked, exasperated with it all. He didn't hide the distaste towards Aeolos in all of this. He had gotten them into this mess…

"As a matter of fact, I do!" Aeolos exclaimed, a figurative lightbulb turning on in his brain. "See the cube? Near the stairs?"

"Yes, I also see dragons near the cube. Not as bad as Dragon Ghosts, but still bad," Sky pointed out, but Kefka had all but understood.

"How do we know that just because it brought you here it will bring us to where you came from?" he asked, too which Aeolos shrugged.

"Got any _brighter_ ideas?" he said with the most puncheable face in the whole wide world.

"Kid's got a point. Everyone ready to go for it?" Kaze asked, received mixed looks.

"But the dragons…"

"I got that…" he said, summoning spheres circling out of him: "Kiton…" Mist Dragon appeared momentarily, coiling its neck around Kaze as he took a deep breath. "Fuma Kiri!" with a mighty exhale, Kaze spewed out a massive amount of mist, being added by his Grandmother as it rested its head on his shoulder. In mere moments, the room was filled with mist. However, as it was characteristic of this kind of mist, its summoner was able to perfectly see through it, and just like that, following Kaze in a single line, the group slowly, but surely, made to the teleporter, jumping into the unknown.

* * *

As the tingling feeling from dematerializing and rematerializing vanished from Fay's stomach, she felt the four sets of emotions that were her friends around her. A good start. However, a look around and they soon realized that they weren't at the entrance. No, they were on a simple junction of two staircases, one going downward and one going upward, and one large doorway.

"Does that thing work at random?" Aeolos groaned, kicking the cube, which proceeded too… go dark. And fall to the ground. "Oh. Oh no!"

"Chill, I'm pretty sure those things were already malfunctioning if it started sending us randomly through the tower," Sky comforted Aeolos, patting him on the back. Fay wish she could have done it, but for some reason she felt so… very… irritated. It hadn't coalesced into rage, not yet, but it was getting there, she couldn't help but be annoyed even at Aeolos, the boy she pampered!

She tried to get her mind off it. How could she do it she asked herself. How could she get them out of this mess. Then she remembered, she still had her phone. She quickly took it out and started dialing Cuore's number. If she couldn't answer, she'd just call Shantotto and she'd call for help!

"I'm afraid that won't be happening Fay," Kefka interjected, showing her his bracelet. The images on it projected were barely recognizable as shapes, much less good representations of the floors they were in. "The mana concentration here is massive. It's causing interference for sure. Your phone likely doesn't have a connection, does it?" she looked back, and he was right, the line was dead.

"Damn it," she hissed, raising even Kefka's eyebrow. Fay? Cursing?

"Fay… are you alright?" Kaze asked, worried to the core, Fay could feel his emotions, she knew. Yet…

"Worry about yourself!" she yelled, pushing him back as he tried to check on her. Then, she paused. As she took a moment to realized what she had done, she begged Wisp to get her emotions in check, changing to him as her main esper. It helped a bit. But not too much. "I'm sorry. I just don't know what came over me…"

"We're all a bit on edge, this isn't looking good for any of us, don't worry about it," Kaze said, completely sincere.

Then, a roar.

"That came from below. Think they found us?" Sky asked, looking at the group.

"I don't wanna stay here and find out. Where do we go? Up or through the door?" He questioned, evaluating his options.

"Well, if we could reach the top, then we could come down with a Float spell, or ask for help with some flashy spells…" Kefka hypothesized. Just then, stomping could be heard. They looked up stairs.

Green scales, far up the stairs, made their way down. A fourth dragon. This one green, acid slithering from its jaw, slowly stalked its prey.

"Door it is, door it is!" Aeolos exclaimed, rushing towards the door. The group did the same. As they approached it, much like what had happened at the entrance, it simply opened wide in their presence, letting them in the large, imposing room ahead.

However, as the dragon went from a stalk into a full on gallop, as soon as it came into a few meters of the door, it reacted poorly, immediately closing with a large crash, the impact of the dragon on the gate being immediately apparent afterwards.

"That was convenient," Sky gasped, a bit out of air from the sudden sprint.

"You tell me," Kaze added, barely affected himself. "Looks like we ended up on an interesting place," looking around, while the architecture was consistent, the group realized they had ran into an enormous library, shelves with hundreds of books each as far as the eye could see, all piled up into several floors connected by smaller staircases.

"Doesn't seem like one with an exit though," Sky said, less impressed than Kaze. A second bang on the door was heard. This one soon followed by a third and a fourth. "The rest of the party is here. Wonder how much that door will hold…"

"Let's see if we can't find a hiding place, or just something useful in general…" Aeolos suggested.

As the three teenagers talked, Fay was silent. There was something strange in this library. A feeling that she had only felt hints at during the entire stay, but was all but prevalent here. She could feel emotions. Emotions that weren't her's, Kaze's or anyone else she could see. And they were all of pain and melancholy. Sadness and tiredness. She looked at Kefka, and saw it in his eyes. His eyes were moving, fixating on things. Things that she could not see. However, they fixated on things that she could feel.

"Kefka, what are you seeing?" she asked him, not mincing words. Everyone stopped talking. Kefka sighed.

"I never got around to telling you this but… Me and my younger sister… we have some kind of enhanced spatial awareness. We can see into things that are just past our realm of existence. Cutting to the chase, this library, no, this whole tower, it's full of ghosts," Kefka confessed, flooring everyone but Fay. This only made sense to her. That's what she had been feeling. Their emotions.

"You saw ghosts and you never told us about them?!" Aeolos exclaimed, feeling more insulted than he should. He was angrier at how much coolness they had missed per say.

"They aren't exactly common, unlike what most people would believe. And I only saw one or two in this tower, and only at a glance, while we were doing… other things. This library though? Oh, it's full of them. And I'm pretty sure none of them know they are dead," he added, his eyes surveying his surroundings.

"How can you tell?" Kaze questioned, seeing this as an opportunity, just as Kefka did.

"All of them seem to be following their everyday lives. They just wander around, go through motions that seemed preprogrammed in their brains before, but they never affect the real world with it. They aren't strong enough to do it," Kefka explained, stopping to rub his eyes for a while. "This strains the eyes a bit. Trying to find one that can give us some clues. They are all wearing strange, futuristic fabric through. I'm not sure what civilizations this one is supposed to be…"

"I wouldn't question anything at this point, if Cuore has no answers, we're just going to be raking our brains uselessly without any hints on the matter," Sky told Kefka, knowing how much being compared to Cuore hurt him. It just had to be done.

"I supposed you are in the right," Kefka replied as he opened back his eyes and surveyed the room again. Another beat. And another. And another. A giant roar came before a final, stronger impact. The door started to crack.

"Hurry it up Kefka!" Aeolos exclaimed, pulling on his arm.

"Don't rush me, I can't- wait a minute! That's it!" Kefka's eyes stopped at one point specifically, a certain bookshelf. "There was a guy with an overly designed dress snooping around that bookcase. He made a motion as if he was pulling this book from it…" Kefka started, pulling on the aforementioned book. As he expected, the bookcase sunk into the ground, revealing a secret passage. "And he went through it," Kefka finished, extending his arm, as if leading them inside.

"Do we have any idea where this would lead?" Fay spat in an irritated tone, knowing full well this hadn't any guaranteed of safety.

"If you want to stay out here and become dragon chow, be my guest. I'll be in here trying to find an exit, or just hiding out form those carnivorous reptiles. Like a sensible person," Kefka retorted, staring at Fay right in the eyes as he did. He was tired of her shit, and he wanted her to know that.

"Fay, let's go, he has a point," Sky told her. The only person that could calm her down in her current state. With a deep breath, Fay took a step into the crystalline tunnel ahead. As soon as the final person had crossed, the bookcase closed behind them, and with it… all emotions, all of Fay's irritation, just… stopped.

"Kefka, is it just me or…" Fay began, but Kefka shook his head in return.

"No, you're right. This place is completely isolated from the rest of the tower. This… isn't a way out," Kefka deduced, drawing the Enhancer.

"This was made to store something, is what you're implying, right?" Kaze asked, his tools already at a ready.

"It's just a guess, but proceed with caution," and with that, they stalked into the depths of the crystal lit tunnel of blue. They walked for a few good minutes before a faint voice came in the distance. "Oh, damn, it's a prison. Was hoping for a treasury…"

"Should we proceed, or?" Fay asked, honestly unsure of what to do.

"We may be stuck in here for quite some time. We should make sure we're safe," Kaze stated, leading the way. The voice became louder and louder. It was only one, and it seemed to be babbling. Ramblings of a madman talking to itself.

"Why yes Voidsent do enjoy the dark, but that doesn't make them aligned with the Dark, we went over this!"

As the voice came into hearing range, so did the source. A floating, large crystal on the center of a gaping hole, housing two strange figures, with only a panel in front of it.

The figures on the crystal were all but human. One Fay recognized instantly as being like her spirits, but of a dark coloring. It didn't take long for her to realize it must be of the Dark element.

The other one… well, it was a floating book. A light brown tome filled with intricate silver designs, one of them being a face emblazoned on both sides of it. The group was as in awe of a talking book as it was confused, so much so that, when they arrived, he had the first word, quickly noticing them even in the midst of his rant.

"Oh, visitors. _Terrific_ , has Amon finally found a use for us?" it questioned, all the disdain in the world being felt in each of its words. The group just stared at each other, even more confused.

"Amon?" Kefka asked, actually curious as to who it might meant. Could that have been the ghost he had seen? If so… how long had this tome been here? All these questions flowed in his mind.

"That's a riot, the Emperor has discarded him? Thought only he was worthy of Eternal Life? I honestly can't say I am surprised," And with that answer, the torrent of questions that plagued Kefka and the group erupted into a tidal wave that knew no end. Were these the ramblings of a mad man… or book? Or was there method to the madness?

"Look, you aren't making any sense here, Emperor? Emperor who?" Sky asked, being pretty sure he paid enough attention in history class to know that no one in Saronia's region should be talking about Emperors.

"Likewise. You mean to tell me that you are not Emperor Xande's courier boys and yet you found your way into our cell?" Al the questions ceased. All but one.

"Emperor…" all of the group in unison began, their shock and awe knowing the same culprit.

" **Xande?!** "

* * *

 _To be continued in;_

 **Part 3: He Who Runs From Death**

* * *

 **Post-Author's Note:** Honestly, this chapter was going to have the entire CT in one go, but as you can tell… it's way too big for one chapter. Half of the next chapter is already done, so expect a semi-swift update! I won't leave you hanging. Can't let Jade be the only consistent person, heh?!


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